Nolan Maurer
Thursday, 16, 2017
Job # 3 - Compare & Contrast

Washington Irving and Ambrose Bierce were both famous short story writers. We have already gone over some of their most famous works, Bierce's obviously being An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Irving's being the Legend of sleepy Hollow. Both stories have a dark/Gothic kinda style but I think that in occurrence at owl Creek Bridge had more of a meaningful theme and made you think more then the Legend of sleepy Hollow did. That could have been because it was (at least for me)  way more confusing then sleepy Hollow. It was also more realistic which helped me enjoy the story even more.

Owl Creek Bridge and Sleepy Hollow are both great short stories with crazy plot twists. They each have their own unique setting and plot. But the characters are what I think really bring the stories together because, they are who I'm going to be relating with in the story. I'm either going to love them to death and hope they have a happy ending or absolutely hate them and wish they'd have a painful agonizing death, and I know that sounds mean but if I'm wishing that to happen to them you better believe they deserve it :). That's my thoughts on both stories, I'm interested to hear your thoughts on Irving's and Bierce's works.

Nolan Maurer
3/13/2017
Job # 2  - Thinking Question

Was anyone else confused when they first read this story? Because I know I definitely was and I had to read it twice to fully understand it. But something I'm still confused on is what is the theme of this whole story?What was the author trying to tell us through this story? Anyone have any ideas?

I personally think the theme could possibly be about the nature of time when your about to face death, or how do you spend your final moments before death. Because time seemed to slow down for Peyton when he was nearing death, and when he closed his eyes he thought of what seemed to be the most important thing to him, family.

Nolan Maurer

March, 12, 2017

"He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children."

(chapter 1 of An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge)

This line makes me think that Peyton's great escape was all in his head, because at the end when he's running to embrace his wife and suddenly dies, his body was under the bridge at which he was hung. I think this because he was imagining all of this in his head when the captain nodded to the sergeant who then stepped aside which meant the platform under him was about to drop.

Another reason why I think this would be when chapter 3 starts. It begins with Peyton jumping down towards the river while dodging a cannonball and gun fire. Because of this he now supposedly has increased senses, strength, and sight. His sight was so good he could see one of the marksman's eyes through the scope of his gun and saw that he had gray eyes which apparently means he's a great shot, but somehow he misses Peyton's head by what seems like inches.

This whole story was pretty confusing for me but that was the conclusion that I came up with.