Analyzing Point of View in Bierce's 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge': Reliable or Not?, Summaries of English Literature

Download Analyzing Point of View in Bierce's 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge': Reliable or Not? and more Summaries English Literature in PDF only on Docsity! How does Bierce’s use of point of view affect our understanding of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”? In this lesson you will learn how the point of view affects the meaning of the story by identifying when a narrator is reliable and when he is unreliable. Core Lesson Reread portions of the text and highlight words or phrases that help you to understand who the narrator is. 1 2 Using highlighted evidence, ask yourself: “What point of view is this?” 3 Ask yourself: “Why does the author use this point of view?” Core Lesson Reread portions of the text and highlight words or phrases that help you to understand who the narrator is. Words to pay attention to include pronouns and nouns (he, she, his, her, I, me, my, our, we, Farquhar, the soldier, Farquhar’s wife). 1 Core Lesson 1 Reread portions of the text and highlight words or phrases that help you to understand who the narrator is. Words to pay attention to include pronouns and nouns (he, she, his, her, I, me, my, our, we, Farquhar, the soldier, Farquhar’s wife). Core Lesson 2 Using highlighted evidence, ask yourself: “What point of view is this?” Is the narrator talking about himself? Is he following one character? Does he know what’s going on with ALL the characters? This is third person limited because it is focused only on Farquhar and what he does, says, and feels. Core Lesson 2 Using highlighted evidence, ask yourself: “What point of view is this?” Is the narrator talking about himself? Is he following one character? Does he know what’s going on with ALL the characters? This is third person omniscient bec use Farquhar himself couldn’t report that he is dead. This is something that only an omniscient (all-knowing) narrator could tell us. Core Lesson 3 Ask yourself: “Why does the author use this point of view?” This is third person limited because it is focused only on Farquhar and what he does, says, and feels. This is third person limited because it is focused only on Farquhar and what he does, says, and feels. This is third person omniscient because Farquhar himself couldn’t report that he is dead. This is something that only an omniscient (all knowing) narrator could tell us. Third person limited allows us to focus on only one character’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. Third person omniscient allows us to see all things objectively. Why doe Bierce use these two points of view in his story? The third person limited point of vi w arrator is unreliable. It tricks the reader into thinking the escape was real. Th third person omniscient narrator was reliable. It r vealed the truth about Farquhar’s death by hanging.