In one of the most quoted lines from this story, Bierce uses a metaphor to describe death as a dignitary:
Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him. In the code of military etiquette silence and fixity are forms of deference.
This metaphor comes after Bierce describes in detail the precise ceremony and preparation the soldiers enact before Farquhar’s execution, such as their formations and “silence.” This quote gives context to the presence of death in the story. While death is inevitable in the war, just as it is inevitable for Farquhar (himself a representation of the Confederacy), Bierce remarks with this metaphor on the power and deference that death commands—as if death itself is a dignitary. Despite the “respect” the soldiers must show death, it still comes to claim their lives.
This metaphor is also significant because it serves to personify death, giving it human agency. Death is imagined to be a person who commands respect, a force guiding the actions of the soldiers. The personification adds extra weight to this metaphor, which stands out as a prominent theme in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.”
