Suspense In An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge

Words: 367
Pages: 2

Ambrose Bierce creates suspense in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” through various literary devices such as imagery, pacing, allusion, and by misleading the reader. Imagery is a large contributor to the suspense that is built during the story. During the great escape scene one example of suspense built by imagery is “He observed that it was a gray eye and remembered having read that gray eyes were keenest, and that all famous marksmen had them. Nevertheless, this one had missed.”(page 4. Bierce). This creates suspense by making the reader think that he is going to get shot because the shooter is supposed to be a good shot but he ends up, after a suspenseful but short build up missing.
While the story itself is not very interesting, except