Previous
Symbols
As Farquhar awaits his execution, he begins to hear “a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil,” which heightens his anxiety and draws out the moments before his death. It turns out to be the ticking of his own watch. Watches are often potent symbols of time in literature, and this one seems to emphasize how little time Farquhar has left. “Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell,” Bierce writes, a direct link between the ticking watch and the imminent execution. Each moment of time is made clear and precise in light of Farquhar’s awareness that his time is coming to an end.
On another level, the ticking watch signifies a kind of foreshadowing. When Farquhar believes he has escaped the noose, his senses become “preternaturally keen and alert.” He sees tiny details and hears the smallest sounds as if magnified, much as he heard the distinct hammering of his own watch. The ticking watch sets the reader up for this shift in the protagonist’s senses, as both suggest a certain change in perception in the moments before death. The ticking watch, in turn, makes it easier for Bierce to segue into the surreal near-dream of Farquhar’s escape and flight.
The Ticking Watch Quotes in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
The An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Ticking Watch. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Quotes
A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. How slowly it appeared to move! What a sluggish stream!
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
As the time of his hanging approaches, time seems to slow as Farquhar becomes hyperaware of his surroundings. Bierce makes use of foreshadowing here again by pointing out a small and seemingly trivial detail in the middle of the scene he has just set. It suggests that, as the end nears, Farquhar’s senses take in as many details as they can before going silent for good. This hints at Farquhar’s preternaturally keen senses after the rope “breaks” and the hypersensitive details he absorbs, which in turn represents a wavering line between life and death. In that sense, his fixation on Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam
They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of his watch.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Farquhar hears a sharp sound interrupting his thoughts of his family that he finally identifies as coming from his own watch. This in part reflects his awareness of the seconds of his life relentlessly passing by. The ticking watch is also one of the most powerful symbols of the piece, bringing together all of the story’s thematic components into a single unforgettable image. First, its mechanical beats and ruthless efficiency echo the movements of the Union soldiers, who perform their actions with similar precision (which in this case will lead to Farquhar’s death by hanging). Second, the intensity with which Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accus
He was now in full possession of his physical senses. They were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Bierce returns to the present, in the moments after the order was giving for Farquhar’s hanging to commence. Farquhar loses consciousness briefly before awaking in the river below and attempting to outrun shooting Union soldiers. This moment harks back to the ticking watch, and earlier examples of Farquhar’s senses becoming sharper than normal. It’s also a firm signal that the story is moving into the realm of Farquhar’s hallucination, and the the reader is seeing the world form his point of view rather than a more objective reality. Bierce remains matter-of-fact about this sudden switch—in keeping with the story’s realist Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam offic
He observed that it was a gray eye and remembered having read that gray eyes were keenest, in that all famous marksmen had them. Nevertheless, this one had missed.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Still believing himself to be running from the Union soldiers, Farquhar hones in on the fact that one of the men shooting at him has gray eyes. As Farquhar’s senses continue to sharpen, the story’s tone becomes increasingly surreal. The link between gray eyes and marksmanship, for instance, seems arbitrary, and lacks any corresponding evidence to support it. It’s also immediately contradicted by the fact that the guardsman missed. Not only does it emphasize Farquhar’s now almost supernatural vision—able to spot the color of a marksman’s eyes as he swims madly away from that marksman—but it links those abilities to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptat
Overhead, as he looked up through this rift in the wood, shone great golden stars looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange constellations. He was sure they were arranged in some order which hid a secret and malign significance. The wood on either side was full of singular noises, among which—once, twice, and again—he distinctly heard whispers in an unknown tongue.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
At this point Farquhar believes that he has run madly into a strange wood to escape the Union soldiers. Here, the story most closely resembles that of a horror novel. The surreal surroundings have become actively alien, with an air of menace around them: strange whispers form the woods and constellations with no earthly origin. This represents concrete proof that whatever Farquhar is experiencing, it is distinct from objective reality, and that he is either hallucinating or has moved into a different plane of existence after he has died. In that sense, it can be viewed as a further extension Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscip
Get the entire An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
The Ticking Watch Symbol Timeline in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Ticking Watch appears in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
...distracted by a new detail: a steady, inexplicable booming sound, which turns out to be the ticking of his watch .
(full context)
