Bierce’s short stories are darker because of the time period, topics, and characters. The topics are more evil. Time periods are different war and Christmas in totality. Characters are closer to death. Characters don’t have happiness in they’re lives.
The setting of the Gift of the Magi is a flat on Christmas Eve. The setting also takes place in the market in the city. The setting of the short story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is in northern Alabama. The time period is during the Civil War. Both short stories take place during different time periods and geographical places.
Della and Jim are the main characters in the Gift of the Magi. Della has long hair that flows “like tresses.” She is selfless, kind, and compassionate. Jim is also kind and selfless, but he is also hard-working. The main character in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is Peyton Farquhar. Peyton Farquhar is brave, scared, and a hero. His physical characteristics are he has large grey eyes, a pointed beard, he has a striking figure. There are other characters such as Farquhar’s wife, the Northern Scout, and the Sergeant. Farquhar’s wife is innocent in this story. The only time she is a physical being is in Farquhar’s dream.
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The Northern Scout is disguised as a Confederate soldier and helps Farquhar’s sabotage the north. The Sergeant is a Confederate officer. He wants Farquhar dead no matter what happens to him. The plot of The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and A Moonlit Road has a similar plot. They have a similar plot because someone dies in both stories and they also both have three sections.
In the Gift of the Magi the plot is Della’s journey to buy a band for Jim’s watch. She had only $1.87 in her wallet. To buy the band for the watch she has to cut her hair for the rest of the money. Jim gave up his watch for combs for Della. When she and Jim get home they both gave up their most prized possessions: Della’s hair and Jim’s watch. The narrator of the story is Della and another person.
In part one in the Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Farquhar has his hands and feet tied. He is hanging over Owl Creek Bridge. He is about to die. He is going to be hung. Part two is the story of how Farquhar got to where he is now. In part three Farquhar loses consciousness. He is awoken and in a dream. In the dream he dreams that he escapes back to his house.
As soon as he gets to the house his wife steps down on the porch. When that happens, he feels a sharp pain in his neck then he dies because of a broken back. He was hung. In part one of A Moonlit Road a father and son are out of the house, the mother gets murdered. The son was studying at Yale at the time. The father was on a business trip when the murder occurred. In part one the narrator is the son, Joel Jr.
In part two of A Moonlit Road the narrator is a man named Caspar Grattan. When he is narrating he has a bright memory that he strangled a woman. That might be the answer of who is the mother’s murder. In part three the narrator is the mother, Julia Hetman. She is narrating as a ghost. She talks about what happened as she gets murdered.
The theme of the Gift of the Magi are these quotes, “Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.” “There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl.” The first quote is saying that life has ups and downs but mostly downs. Life is going to be rough. Della and Jim struggled with money during their lives. They lived in a run downed flat that needs to be redone. The second quote is saying that when you have a bad day you can’t do anything about it. All you can do is lay down and yell at life.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge quote, “Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him.” Everyone should have a long healthy life. When he/she should die of old age and not suffer from some terrible disease.
A Moonlit Road quote, “Fear has no brains; it is an idiot. The dismal witness that it bears and the cowardly counsel that it whispers are unrelated.” Fear is just something holding you back. Life is the thing you should be focusing on more.
