Only because of the Twilight Zone episode, I haven't read it.

:c

It plays on the theme 'the moment before you die your life flashes before your eyes' - with a twist. This is a man about to be hanged, suddenly (and apparently) escaping and just when he is about to rush into his house to embrace his wife: HE IS HANGED. All that went between the scaffold and the hanging was just a split second in his imagination - a fantasy of breaking free of the scaffold and escaping to his home.

Perhaps there is a dreaming-waking quality to the story. How many of us have that sensation - just before waking up properly in the morning - that we HAVE actually woken up and got up and are doing something? It can become quite involved, and sometimes one only realises one IS dreaming when something truly absurd comes in - say a fight with a best friend, when in reality you and them never fight.

Whether "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" really adds anything to the human condition is a moot point. One of the purposes of literature (classic or otherwise) is to make one see ALL THE POSSIBILITIES, ESPECIALLY THE GOOD ONES THAT 'TRAINING' OR 'IT NEVER HAPPENS TO ME' MIGHT MAKE US OVERLOOK. "Owl Creek Bridge" insists 'this is what is' but ignores the fact that not all hope is false. Perhaps the author had given up hope, and that reflects in his story.