On Ambrose Bierce's An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge (1)

Yuen M. Ho
English 48B
January 19, 2007
Journal #9 Ambrose Bierce

I. 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. In the code of military etiquette silence and fixity are forms of deference.”

II. Summary

This quote was describing the moment when the man was soon going to be executed and the soldiers, including the spectators, were already prepared for the hanging. It was a moment of absolute silence. There were many people at the execution site at that time, but nobody eked out a sound.

In this quote Bierce associated this silent moment before the man’s death with the receiving of an elegant guest. He explained that the soldiers were showing respect for the man’s death.

III. Response

This quote is weird – I have never heard somebody relating death with dignitary. Even though death is a natural consequence of life, it is always received with fear and avoidance. Sometimes it can be associated with respect – when somebody sacrifices one’s life for others. Nevertheless, I speculate that at some point before death, even a brave person cannot avert some sense of panic.

I am always ambiguous about death penalty. Sometimes I regard it as a manifestation of justice. Yet, beneath its justified cause, it is after all a kind of murder. It sounds sarcastic to me that on one hand the executioners were trying to kill the man but on the other hand they showed respect for his death. If they show their reverence for death by silence and fixity, what have they done to show the respect for life?

I understand that death is not a time for celebration, laughter or lousiness. I believe that the author was just trying to make the scene appear to be more vivid by describing different forms of silence and fixity. Wouldn’t he be able to conceive that a simple line like this can provoke so many thoughts?