The cord fell away; his arms parted and floated upward, the hands dimly seen on each side in the growing light. He watched them
with a new interest as first one and then the other pounced upon the noose at his neck. They tore it away and thrust it fiercely aside, its undulations resembling those of a water snake. "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,"
Ambrose Bierce
At this point, what is a logical prediction?
What effect does being tricked into this false prediction have on the reader?
The reader experiences a realistic story of escape and suddenly experiences family sentimentality.
The reader experiences what seems to be a romantic escape only to be returned to the reality of death.
The reader experiences a tale of a guilty man only to discover that the man was innocent.
When I first read this short story I was at a sense of loss by the end of it. I thought he had escaped death and was going to return to his family.
At the point in the story where you quoted, I had a hope that the man was going to get away. A logical prediction would be to condemn this man to death still because he was sorrounded by troops and in enemy territory. However, we think that the author will have mercy on the protagonist, and through that mercy the man will get away.
