An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge And The Story Of An Hour Essays

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge And The Story Of An Hour Perceptions In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and The Story of an Hour, the authors use similar techniques to create different tones, which in turn illicit very distinct reactions from the reader. Both use a third person narrator with a limited omniscient point of view to tell of a brief, yet significant period of time. In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Bierce uses this method to create an analytical tone to tell the story of Farquhar's experience just before death. In The Story of an Hour, Chopin uses this method to create an involved, sympathetic tone to relay the story of Mrs. Mallard's experience just before death. These stories can be compared on the basis of their similar points of view and conclusions as well as their different tones. In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Ambrose Bierce recreates a few brief seconds of time for a man being executed whose cognition of these seconds is perceived as the better part of a full day. All that day he traveled? (paragraph 33). In The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin relates a meaningful, yet unusual hour of time as the last one lived for a woman who has been given the news of her husband's death in a railroad disaster (paragraph 2). She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment? (paragraph 3). Both stories are centered on the powerful emotions that occur within the minds of the characters as they live out the last moments of their lives. The narrators reveal the most intimate thoughts of each character. In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Bierce focuses on detail and the dramatic revelation of Farquhar's dying thoughts as he desperately tries to escape the hangmen. This creates a suspenseful journey that seems to see him freed from his noose and carried almost home to the loving arms of his wife. As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man's brain rather than evolved from it? (paragraph 7). This period of time in which we follow along in our minds seems to last through the day. In the end we find that the time was only in Farquhar's head and was really only the last few seconds of his life as he saw it before the rope broke his neck. However, the hanging is not the most significant part of the story because Bierce's third person narrator remains focused on the details of the perceived passing of the time rather than the action. Although the hanging is an action necessary to Farquhar's experience, it remains in the shadows of the sto ry, as we believe he escapes death and are drawn into his head to struggle with him towards home and freedom. This point of view entices the reader more deeply into the episode than would a less knowing point of view. Bierce plays a mind game with the reader that explores an impossible reality. Although it is not conceivable to be inside someone's head to experience his or her thoughts, Bierce's narrator does a commendable job of creating a fictional, yet believable example of this impossibility. Bierce's method allows the reader to become deeply intimate with the details of the profound occurrence of Farquhar's death. He creates a plethora of explicit suffering which contributes to the analytical tone. The reader is almost able to feel his pain as he is tortured by the hanging process. His neck ached horribly; his brain was on fire; his heart?gave a great leap, trying to force itself out at his mouth (paragraph 19). This process of the systematic progression of events from the perceived moment of hanging to the perceived moment of almost achieving freedom creates a fantastic narrative. In The Story of an Hour, Chopin also focuses on the experiences going on inside the character's head, but in realistically measured time. An hour passes while Mrs. Mallard believes she has lost her husband and gained her freedom. The joy she feels as a result

Dvorak keyboard essays

Dvorak keyboard essays The Dvorak keyboard layout has been slow to catch on due to lack of scientifically conclusive evidence that it is superior to the QWERTY sequence. The majority of positive test results seem to come from Dvorak himself, who had a financial and intellectual investment in his patent. Ergonomic studies did not support his superior claim for the layout. Tests done by the Department of the Navy were positive, but considering that Dvorak was also a Naval Officer, it is no wonder that endorsement was provided by the U.S. Navy. Businesses are slow to accept a change in an accepted standard due to the risks of rejection by competitors. The comparison of the two is very similar to the videotape format issue except that technically proved superiority is very questionable. Change to a historically accepted standard has always been a slow process. Supply and demand is still the cornerstone of marketing and demand for the Dvorak layout is small. It is even more so if the layout conversion is negle cted by the community that it is suppose to benefit: the professional typists. Early studies done by the U.S. General Services Administration in 1953 appear to give a more objective conclusion than that of Dvorak's work on his layout. It found that good typist are fast, regardless of the keyboard used. Looking at the future in keyboarding, it seems as though the skill itself will become somewhat of a historical remedy if voice recognition software ever becomes a standard for computer users. Even now, word processors increase the speed of most typists to a degree that such a change in a keyboard configuration would make little difference. As long as expert typists can average about 100 words a minute with QWERTY keyboards, the future for an alternative standard is bleak in the business world. The benefit does not outweigh the cost of change at this moment in time. ...