So while reading “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” the first time around, I highlighted the parts that happened to stand out to me. The first was “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.” If I understand this correctly and not psychopathically, then I think it basically means that if you know that you’re dying, then you should be realistic about it. I consider myself to be a realist but death is my second biggest fear, so this sentence in the story really resonated with me and put my ideal perspective on death into 25 words. The next section that caught my attention was when the narrator says “what he heard was the ticking of his watch.” I just feel like this would happen to me too, if I knew that I was about to die. The last part I highlighted was when the narrator “remembered having read that gray eyes were keenest.” I honestly don’t know what I liked about that sentence except for the fact that I read it 4 times. I guess I just thought it was funny that the character with gray eyes was arguable the least keen character in this story.
Also I don’t know if I’m the only one that thinks this, but there’s something weirdly satisfying about the main character, or protagonist, dying in a story. I think that I’ve just become so fed up with all of the hero/heroine bestsellers that it’s almost refreshing to read a story that has a slightly more realistic ending than all of the other fiction. This story was enjoyable because it kept me thinking “what if”, but then ended exactly the way that I wanted, but not really because it was sad. Hmm. I’m not quite sure if any of that makes sense.
Bottom line: I liked it.
When I first read your claim about how there is something weirdly satisfying about the protagonist dying I completely agreed and continued reading your post, but somehow as I came back to that sentence, I found myself torn (especially in the context of this particular story). I feel as if there are two competing sides in my head that want different aspects of this claim. The one that is culturally conditioned to expect that the protagonist will always live wants to be surprised in some way and therefore years for his Peyton's death. However, the compassionate side is swayed by part 2 of the story in which Peyton's personal life and family are semi-fleshed out and wants for him to survive the trap.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read your claim about how there is something weirdly satisfying about the protagonist dying I completely agreed and continued reading your post, but somehow as I came back to that sentence, I found myself torn (especially in the context of this particular story). I feel as if there are two competing sides in my head that want different aspects of this claim. The one that is culturally conditioned to expect that the protagonist will always live wants to be surprised in some way and therefore years for his Peyton's death. However, the compassionate side is swayed by part 2 of the story in which Peyton's personal life and family are semi-fleshed out and wants for him to survive the trap.
ReplyDeleteI definitely get that. It's kind of a bizarre thing to try and work out in your head... especially while reading a story like this one that has so many layers to try and understand. The weird thing is that I don't remember the last time I ever felt that a protagonist is sort of "expected" to live in a story except for in cheesy, way-too-predictable movies, or in kid's movies. This is a tangent, but that kind of reminds me of this article I read once about how Disney movies are slowly trying to get kids to think about death realistically. Death is something that is never really mentioned in Disney movies, and they almost never show the protagonists dying. I guess that relates to the "cultural conditioning" aspect of the argument presented in class, because we are all used to seeing the protagonist in a story prevail.
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