JOB #3 - LITERATURE CONNECTIONS

 I briefly mentioned The Red Badge of Courage in my first post, not realizing that I might want to use that for a future post, so decided to expound upon it here. 

The reality of war is a major theme in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," just as it becomes a major theme throughout  "The Red Badge of Courage". Farquhar and Henry both struggle internally with a desire to show themselves worthy through war, seeing it as a way to attain glory, and therefore viewing it in a somewhat romantic light. Both men perhaps underestimate how horrific it will be, and use their minds to escape the brutal reality of what is actually happening (either to them or around them) in their incomprehensible situations. 

In the story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" when Farquhar  is dying, he dreams of only beautiful things and everything is seen in a positive light, as he seems to fear  the reality of being hung so much that his mind imagines an extremely detailed escape. This is much like Henry's internal battle regarding the brutality of war..  he often can't take the violent war as it is, escaping it by only dreaming of  the glory, romance, and heroism of it. Although Farquhar's escape stays only in his mind because he is physically bound, Henry's  mind also sees an escape and is able to run and physically get away.