The use to the mind to dream and make false reality seem real is important in this work by Bierce. It is part of his theme. In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," Ambrose Bierce uses false dreams to show the power of the mind as it make make one believe what they want to believe just as it did with Peyton Farquhar as he dropped to a seemingly unescapable death.
             As the story begins, the protagonist, Peyton Farquhar is about to be executed by hanging; he has a noose around his neck, and stands upon a plank at the edge of the bridge. When the plank is removed he will tumble toward the water below being cut short of reaching it due to the shortness of the rope(Bernardo 1). The first usage of dreams is shown where Farquhar envisions his escape. It is shown directly by him as he talks about how he will dive into the stream with his hands free, dodge bullets, and escape through the woods to his home where his wife and kids are waiting for him(Gioia 515). This seems to be a foreshadowing of what is going to happen later in the story.
             Peyton Farquhar is tricked into getting into the situation he was in. The man wo tells Farquhar to burn the bridge is actually a member of the Union Army dressed as a Confederate soldier. The intention of this soldier was to set a trap for loyal Confederates to try to stop the Union Army in their path(Bernardo 1). Farquhar, in doing this, shows again that he is dreaming. For he, even knowing the consequences, sets off to do this in the dream that he will be known as a hero if he succeeds. Farquhar's loyalism to the South has overcome his common sense and he was caught in the trap set by the Union soldier(Bernardo 2).
             Bierce's use of Farquhar's dream seems real enough to make us believe that his escape actually does happen, when in reality it does not. It is the close detail with which Bierce describes this dream that makes it, in fact, seem more realistic than the...