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Serenity Mausno

Ms.Kitt

English 3P

3 April 2017

The Extent Man Will go to Survive

Many writers enjoy genres of fantasy and romanticism. They, along with the readers, find

warmth in its happy endings. However there is an opposition to romanticism: realism, which is

the fact of representing a person, thing, or situation accurately in a way that is true to life. Each

of the short stories, To Build a Fire, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, and A Journey

display all aspects of life-- both the good and bad, demonstrating the harsh reality of persevering

through the tough circumstances life gives a person. In To Build a Fire, by Jack London, the

main character struggles to stay alive throughout the whole story due to the weather conditions

he has not yet been accommodated to. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose

Bierce, follows a man from the South during the Civil War who supports slavery and is being

hung for owning slaves. He tries to find a way to cope with his fears of death before his time

runs out. A woman is traveling to her mothers home with her sick husband in the short story ,

A Journey, written by Edith Wharton. Along the way she faces hardships in regards to her

husbands ill state. In To Build a Fire, London uses irony as opposed to Bierce using point of

view in An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge, while Wharton combines both stylistic elements

in order to reveal that the human spirit will do everything in its power to overcome obstacles.

Humans will go to extreme extents to try survive when put into life or death situations.

This can be seen through the short story of To Build a Fire, as the author utilizes irony to prove
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that there is no limit to mans survival instinct. One early morning a man, never before exposed

to the extremely low temperatures found in Alaska sets forth on an adventure alone through the

vicious environment of the Yukon. This causes him to face many struggles because he does not

know how to adapt to the unruly nature and conditions that suddenly encompass him. The man

comes across a dog on his journey. Through his actions toward the dog, such as shov[ing] it

forward, the man's desire for survival is revealed (London 335). The man is not evil, but in

order to ensure the water was completely frozen and safe to walk on, he needed someone to go

first. The dog would not go on his own, so the man pushed him in, confirming that it was frozen.

This represents situational irony because one would not expect the man to harm the dog, but in

extreme cases it is every man for himself. Later in the story he experiences difficulty getting

warmth to his body. He tries hitting himself to keep blood circulation, warming himself with the

mittens he has, and eventually resorted to the idea that He would kill the dog and bury his hands

in the warm body until the numbness, went out of them (London 342). The man was planning

to kill the dog with his bare hands, but could not due to the weakness the cold had caused. This is

another example of situational irony because it is shocking that the man would go to the extent of

killing the dog in order to get warm. In order to stay alive during the intense cold weather the

man risked the dog's life and attempted to kill it. In order to portray the idea that man would do

everything in his power to survive the author used this situational irony, taking the readers by

surprise.

Using third person limited point of view, Bierce illustrates the psychological affects of

being in life or death situations. Farquhar, the main character in The Occurrence at Owl Creek

Bridge is from the south during the time of the Civil War. He was a slave owner when it
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became illegal to own slaves and for that, was being hung. In part one of the story the change in

point of view is revealed when it states, He unclosed his eyes and saw again the water below

him. "If I could free my hands, he thought, I might throw off the noose and spring into the

stream. By diving I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to

the woods and get away home (Bierce). The man has started thinking of ways to escape

because he is close to death. The point of view in the story has changed to third person limited,

helping emphasize the man's fear. Readers can understand Farquhars exact thoughts, and his

wants. The very last sentence in the story, Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken

neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge (Bierce)

changes the point of view to third person because you only hear the story being told, no emotions

from other characters are mentioned. This points out the true impact the fear of death had on

Farquhar mentally. Throughout the whole story he was merely hallucinating. Farquhar was so

afraid of death his mind chose to find a way out, and that was by visualizing his escape in his

mind essentially going crazy. Going from third person limited, to just third person let readers see

the difference from hallucinations and real life. In third person limited the thoughts of Farquhar

were being told, but when it changed to third person it was just his actions being described, thus

meaning that was reality.

While London used irony and Bierce used point of view, Wharton uses both stylistic

elements. In the story A Journey written by Edith Wharton , a woman is on the train to go live

with her mother because her husband is very sick and going to die soon. Third person limited

point of view allows readers to further understand a character by pure explanations of the

characters actions and thoughts. The woman's thoughts are explained when it says She listened;
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but she could not distinguish his breathing from that of the other pairs of lungs about her. She

longed to get up and look at him, but she knew the impulse was a mere vent for her restlessness,

and fear of disturbing him restrained her... (Wharton 96). In order to stay calm during the train

ride the women had to sleep instead of checking up on her husband because she was afraid he

was dead. This is shows how when individuals are alone they would rather struggle internally

then face the reality of death itself. Situational irony is also used when the author states, ...she

might find herself on the platform of some strange station, alone with her husband's body....

Anything but that! It was too horrible (Wharton 97). You would not expect the wife to want

to hide her husband's death, you would expect her to mourn, cry, and be sad about her husband.

Ultimately this is illustrating that during hard times humans hide their true pain in order to go on

and live life; the women had to be strong for herself, instead of be sad over someone who was no

longer living. Third person limited point of view, connects readers to the women emotionally

because her internal thoughts are explained. Whereas situational irony is shocking and points out

that the women must no longer think about her husband and worry about saving her own life

first. Both of these stylistic elements playing a key role in the story because without them, the

woman's selfishness would not be an effect of her loneliness.

When humans are put into challenging situations their power is tested, and their true

capabilities are revealed. Authors illustrated this through the use of both situational irony and

third person point of view. Both of these stylistic terms captivated realism intriguing readers by

making the events feel real. In each of the three stories it was shown that humans would kill,

forget loved ones, and psychologically go to different places in order to overcome their physical
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and/or mental obstacles. Ultimately humans would do absolutely everything in their power to

survive even if that meant the end result of death.


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Works Cited

Bierce, Ambrose. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. N.p.: n.p., 1890. Print.

London, Jack. To Build A Fire. N.p.: n.p., 1908. Print.

Wharton, Edith. A Journey. N.p.: n.p., 1899. Print.

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