Quantum Theory in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Birdge&qu

PicardsTrueLove

This is an essay that I wrote for an english exam. A couple of ppl expressed interest in seeing the essay, which I'll get back on Monday. For now I'll just post the outline. It's pretty complete: my English teacher doesn't screw around when it comes to outlines etc.

p.s.: I know you're all too good for this but I'll post a warning anyway. Pleeeease do not use this to write your own paper. Please please please....

Ok that said (and my paranoia appeased), here you go.

"Applying Quantum Theory to �An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge�

The duel plot lines of �An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge� can be described, and their respective realities ascertained, using the principles of quantum theory. Quantum theory is a theoretical set of physical properties that account for subatomic phenomena. Two of the most important theoretical ideas in quantum theory are the Uncertainty Principle and the concept of Complementarity. In a nutshell, these theories assert that reality can never be truly known or accurately measured due to the simultaneous operation of these two principles. In �An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,� a Southern man is being hanged for plotting against the Union army. The story is written from two alternate perspectives: the impersonal and objective, which is an objective view of events as they occur with no picture of the involved peoples� minds and emotions, through the extremely personal and subjective, which is a subjective view of the perceptions of a Southern slave owner named Peyton Farquhar as he is being hanged. The two perspectives operate simultaneously to give the story a sense of ambiguity, just as Uncertainty and Complementarity assert that reality itself is ambiguous. The reader is presented with a moral dilemma: the objective perspective is that Mr. Farquhar was going to prevent the Union army from entering the South and therefore he deserved to die, but from the subjective perspective the reader learns of his desperate will to survive just like any other human being, making the reader sympathize with his fear of death despite his political convictions.

Paragraph 1: Intro to Quantum Theory and Duality of Reality
Topic Sentence: In the sparsest of terms, quantum theory is a set of physical properties that have been discovered which account for previously unexplained subatomic phenomena. Despite its origins in physics, however, the principles of quantum theory have innumerable applications in almost any discipline.

� Uncertainty Principle: we can never know exactly what is happening/exactly where anything is in any given moment in time: electron�s can behave as both particles or waves, but never both at the same time (when being observed).

� Complementarity: the concept that two different models must be used to describe any given object or system: electron as wave and as particle

� In �Owl Creek Bridge,� Peyton is the electron, the dual principles if whose are being measured with the two perspectives: objective is electron as wave, subjective is electron as particle

Paragraph 2: Objective Perspective (Electron as Wave)
Topic Sentence: The objective perspective in �An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge� is impersonal and dehumanizing, like the military procedure it portrays. We know the facts of Mr. Farquhar�s death, the electron�s wave behavior, but not his feelings about it, or its particle behavior. The only personal information the reader is given about any of the characters is Mr. Farquhar�s name and the fact that he is a Southern slave-owner: sympathetic to the Confederate cause, inviting the reader to agree with his execution.

� The reader is meant to believe that his execution is justified b/c he is a Southerner who tried to betray the Union army. when the reader first knows that the Union army is hanging a Southern sympathizer, s/he is (for the most part) relieved
� factual but distant: man doesn�t have a name but he is in a very specific location, twenty feet above, water is swift, he�s in northern Alabama on not just any bridge, a rail road bridge (wave: collective): �A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below� (45)
� he has a name and a political affiliation, but the reader is not yet inside his head: we know what he says he feels about himself but not what he really feels: �Peyton Farquhar was a well-to-do planter, of an old and highly respected Alabama family...like [his fellow] slave owners he [was] a politician...ardently devoted to the Southern cause� (47)
� end: when Peyton�s neck breaks, the author jolts the reader back to the outside perspective the story began with: Peyton�s cognitive abilities ended just as suddenly as his perception of his death, so his reality is lost and his death has no emotions attached to it: �Peyton Farquhar was dead, his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of Owl Creek Bridge� (53)

Paragraph 3: The Subjective Perspective
Topic Sentence: The subjective perspective in �An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge� describes the emotional experience of Peyton Farquhar while he is being hanged: the electron�s particle behavior. It is surreal and seems distorted, but Peyton�s emotional state is very clear: he is a man desperate to avoid death, and the reader is meant to sympathize with this fear.

� extremely emotional and specific to Peyton�s perceptions (the electron�s particle behavior), but time and the minutiae of fact (wave behavior) are uncertain and indeed even brushed aside
� exaggerated emotion but no intellectuality: it has been �effaced,� not erased entirely, but hidden, so when one perspective is known, the other is not: Uncertainty �The intellectual part of his nature was already effaced; he had power only to feel, and feeling was torment� (4

� The description of Peyton�s experience is full of emotional content and flair, but the time-frame and facts of his situation are vague and confused. (particle: individual)

Paragraph 4: Why?
Topic Sentence: The story forces the reader to attempt to determine whether the decision to execute Mr. Farquhar was �right:� to attempt to reconcile his/her negative feelings towards Mr. Farquhar b/c of his political affiliation with his/her sympathy with his fear of death. Because of this. it also asks the reader to examine his/her own reality and whether the decisions that s/he makes are truly �right.�

� Two perspectives are irreconcilable yet they still operate together and are complementary: there is no �right:� it is uncertain.

Conclusion: The story �An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge� is ultimately about the struggle to reconcile the political justifications for murder, even of the people whose views are most strenuously opposed, with the reality of their humanity and fear of death.

I'll post the essay when i get the grade back. Hope you guys like this!

NIKKI13 · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 1:06 am**

PicardsTrueLove · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 1:06 am**

::bites nails:: is that good or bad: "wow"?

PicardsTrueLove · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 12:58 pm**

Uh oh: no one els ehas said anything. I must have gone completely over ppl's heads (either that or all the "views" are just me coming back looking for more feedback!). Come on ppl I need to know whether or not you like this (so I know what to expect when I get my exam back on Monday!)

Thomas · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 1:15 pm**

I think it's brilliant!

PicardsTrueLove · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 1:35 pm**

Oh how sweet! Yippee!!! he he I think I'm going to get my doctorate in quantum theory and literature.

It just struck me as sucha cool idea.

Thomas · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 1:37 pm**

Wow!

I would have replyed earlier put the length put me off for a while.

PicardsTrueLove · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 1:49 pm**

he he: my fanfics are like that too. I have written only one that's only a page or so long.

(all X-Files fanfic: my ST writing skills haven't quite asserted themselves yet).

Thomas · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 2:12 pm**

Got to get all the detail in!

PicardsTrueLove · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 2:13 pm**

Precisely! Concision was never my strong point.

Thomas · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 2:27 pm**

Not my English class' either. We had to write a summary of Macbeth and apparently pretty much the whole class went a little overboard.

PicardsTrueLove · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 3:03 pm**

Oh dear.

We start MacBeth this spring: I can't wait. I love Shakespeare.

Voy_Girl · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 4:17 pm**

Ohhhhh....... That's a good essay... Though, I fear I must run madly up to my room and get the english dictionary soon...

PicardsTrueLove · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 4:21 pm**

he he ::blush:: I'm constantly using huge words.

Voy_Girl · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 4:24 pm**

Don't blush...

Big words are good, use them more! More, I tell you!

It's just me knowing too small words on english..

PicardsTrueLove · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 4:26 pm**

Well you write very well: I wish I were bilingual. It's so frustrating to not be able to speak French as well as I'd like.

Voy_Girl · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 4:32 pm**

PicardsTrueLove · **Fri Jan 31, 2003 6:27 pm**

he he luuuuurve......

Voy_Girl · **Sat Feb 01, 2003 4:28 pm**

Sehr gut...

PicardsTrueLove · **Mon Feb 03, 2003 11:30 am**

I'll post the actual essay tonight: I just got it back (perfect score on this one: yippeee!!!!!)

Voy_Girl · **Mon Feb 03, 2003 3:32 pm**

Congrats!!

PicardsTrueLove · **Mon Feb 03, 2003 6:03 pm**

"Applying Quantum Theory to 'An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge'"

The purpose of the duel perspectives in the short story "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" (now OCB) can be ascertained by applying two of the theories which form the basis of quantum theory, Uncertainty and Complimentarity. The simultaneous operation of these basic principles causes reality to become a permanent unknown. In OCB, these principles can be readily applied to the moral dilemma that faces the reader with the execution of a Southern man. The dilemma is due to the two perspectives used in the story; the impersonal and objective perspective, which is an objective view of the events as the occur with no picture of the involved characters' mindests, and the personal and subjective perspective, in which the reader is made aware of the surreal but emotional reality of the Sounthern slave owner being hanged by the Union army. The simultaneous operation of the two perspectives makes justifying his execution an exercise in ambiguity, because the reader is torn between his being a Southerner and therefore feeling he deserves to die, and the reader's understanding that he is just as human as they are. Similarly, the simultaneous operation of Uncertainty and Complementarity makes reality itself ambiguous.

In the sparsest of terms, quantum theory is a set of physical properties that have been discovered which account for previously unexplained sub-atomic phenomena. Despite its origins in physics, however, the principles of quantum theory have innumerable applications in almost any discipline. Two of the most universal principles in quantum theory are Uncertainty and Complementarity (now U and C, respectively). U states that reality can never be truly known because the more accurately one describes one aspect or behavior of an object, such as an electron, the less accurately one can describe its other aspects and behaviors. This brings on to C, which states that for an object to be accurately described, it must be observed and measured according to at least two different models. To demonstrate the simultaneous operation of these principles, it is necessary to use the example of an electron. Electrons can behave as waves and as particles, so in order to accurately describe them, one must use both their wave and particle behaviors and properties (C). However, since they are not one or the other, it is uncertain what they are in reality (U). Similarly, in OCB, Peyton Farquhar is the electron, and the story's duel perspectives the wave (objective) and particle (subjective) properties of his execution.

The objective perspective in OCB is impersonal and dehumanizing, like the military procedure it portrays. We know the facts of Mr. Farquhar's death, the electron's wave properties, but not his feelings about it, or its particle properties. The only personal information the reader is given about any of the characters is Mr. Farquhar's name and the fact that he is a Southern slave-owner, sympathetic to the Confederate cause: inviting the reader to agree with his execution. When the reader learns that the Union army is hanging a Southerner s/he is meant to be relieved. The lack of personal information about Mr. Farquhar and contrasting minute details of the event itself is a representation of the military view of the execution. "A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below" (45). The writing is specific as to the facts of the event -- a man is being hanged from a railroad bridge twenty feet above the "swift" water of the river -- but personal details are missing; the man doesn't even have a name. Furthermore, even when that personal information is given it is objective and meant to make the reader feel his execution is justified. �Peyton Farquhar was a well-to-do planter, of an old and highly respected Alabama family...like [his fellow] slave owners he [was] a politician...ardently devoted to the Southern cause� (47). When Peyton dies in the end, the author snaps the reader out of his emotional reality and back to the objective, precise military style of the beginning, because Peyton's death abruptly ends his emotional reality. "�Peyton Farquhar was dead, his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of Owl Creek Bridge" (53).

The subjective perspective in �An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge� describes the emotional experience of Peyton Farquhar while he is being hanged: the electron�s particle behavior. It is surreal and seems distorted, but Peyton�s emotional state is very clear: he is a man desperate to avoid death, and the reader is meant to sympathize with this fear. The narrator describes Peyton's intellectuality (the electron's wave behavior) as having been "effaced," or hidden. "The intellectual part of his nature was already effaced; he had power only to feel, and feeling was torment" (48 ). This concealment of fact in favor of emotional or particle behavior illustrates U: the more accurately the reader knows Peyton's emotion and humanity, the less accurately can s/he determine or extract a justification for his execution: a reason that he should suffer as they would in his situation.

The story forces the reader to attempt to determine whether the decision to execute Mr. Farquhar was �right:� to attempt to reconcile his/her negative feelings towards Mr. Farquhar because of his political affiliation with his/her sympathy with his fear of death. Because of this, it also asks the reader to examine his/her own reality and whether the decisions that s/he makes are truly �right.� The story's duel perspectives offer the reader two irreconcilable realities and forces him/her to attempt to piece together a "right" decision from the complementary realities. The reader must attempt to describe the electron and combine its different behaviors, and then justify their explanation and sentence the electron to being labeled. The reader must ultimately conclude that there is no "right:" due to the simultaneous operation of complementary realities, "rightness" is uncertain.

Just as the principles of quantum theory make reality impossible to determine, so too do the duel perspectives in OCB make morality impossible to discern, and the reader is left to ponder the "correct" decision, just as the scientist continues to attempt to describe and label the electron.

Hope you guys like that!! lol Thanks for sticking wiht me!

Voy_Girl · **Tue Feb 04, 2003 3:20 pm**

Woa..! No offense, but I'll read this when I have more time...

PicardsTrueLove · **Tue Feb 04, 2003 6:44 pm**

lol no problem!