THE FREUDIAN STRUCTURAL MODEL OF THE MIND IN “AN OCCURENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE"

This paper analyses the portrayal of a fragmented mind in the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by the American writer Ambrose Bierce. In this context, this study focuses on the perceptual disorder and hallucinations caused by the character's inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality in the last moments of his life, as a result of being condemned to death during the Civil War. The delusions created by the unconscious also open a door for the character to distance himself from reality. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the protagonist's fragmented mind and the unconscious, this study employs the Freudian structural model of the mind under the headings of id, ego and superego. Thus, this study explains the delusions of the unconscious mind in a state of danger in terms of repressed idealised self-images and defence mechanisms based on the reality principle. Furthermore, it also deals with the relationship between the life and death instincts of the unconscious to maintain the survival of the self. Consequently, this research contributes to the analysis of the processes and phases that the unconscious follows in order to overcome a state of danger.