Miguel Robles

Ms. Saravia

English 11 Period 1

3 February 2017

Compare and Contrast Essay

The story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce, comes also in a

film. Although they are both based off the same concept, they also contrast from one another. But

overall, with its counterpart, it has more similarities than anything. With this statement comes

evidence. The following will represent how the written story resembles and contrasts to the film

version.

To begin, the similarities begins with the same setting. It sets both the reader and viewer

in the setting of a man named Peyton Farquhar, a southern gentleman, about to be hanged by

Union soldiers. This gives a sense of questioning for why he is being hanged in the first place.

Moving on, both are able to change the point of view. This can be described throughout third part

of the written story. As for the film, it shows the viewer what Farquhar sees, from the detailed

leaves from the insects on them. Towards the ending, the protagonist seems to be able to escape.

But when he finally reaches his destination, both stories end up with him dying while escaping

just being his imagination.

Moving on to the differences, the most obvious one is the way the text and film describe

the setting. The text assists the reader in visualizing what is occurring throughout the story. As

for the film, being silent and containing no text, it visually shows the watcher what is going on.
But the text in this case is more descriptive since it uses wording for the setting and plot. Plot

wise, the film does not show or explain why Farquhar is being hanged in the first place. Different

from the film, the text contains background information on the occurrence.

To conclude, while comparing and contrasting An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge to

its film counterpart, it is relevant that similarities occur more than the differences. Evidence of

this comes in elements. Such elements include the point of view and the description. Although

having few differences, the text and film are obvious to have major yet little amount of

contrasting.