Homework for October 22

When you read and re-read Ambrose Bierce's "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," I want you to pay attention to narration and the organization of the plot. The story begins in a kind of 3rd Person Objective mode and then slips into a more subjective/limited mode. See if you can locate where there are mode switches and consider what effects this has for a reader. How does the opening get us into the story? What does it offer and what does it suppress? How does the transition of narrative mode change a reader's relationship to the events and to the main character? Perhaps associated with this is the emplotment of the story in a very non-chronological order. When you read, mark the points at which the story changes in time and see if you can notice an effect on how this gets you into the story differently.

With those ideas in mind, I want you to write 3 paragraphs for a total of 250-350 words on this story. Each paragraph should consider a different moment of transition in the story, whether of p.o.v., of chronology, or of both if you find them coinciding. They don't need to connect up in any way, but can remain 3 separate paragraphs of speculative response.