LITERARY TWIST

LOST had numerous literary references throughout the series, from character names to actual book props.  Many thought those were clues as to the premise of the story lines.

There is one literary format that is rarely discussed because of its twisted ending. It was once used as a reference outline for a Twilight episode.

The story structure is contained in a Civil War era short story called An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce in 1886 and first published in 1890. Bierce was called his era's greatest cynic based upon his work, The Devil's Dictionary.  Bierce had been a news correspondent during the Civil War.

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is the three act story of Peyton Farquhar, a Confederate sympathizer condemned to death by hanging from Owl Creek Bridge. At the beginning of the story, the protagonist stands bound at the bridge's edge. It is later revealed that after a disguised Union scout enlisted him to attempt to demolish the bridge, he was caught in the act.

In the first part of the story, a gentleman planter in his mid thirties is standing on a railroad bridge in Alabama. Six military men and a company of infantry men are present. The man is to be hanged from the bridge. As he is waiting, he thinks of his wife and children. Then he is distracted by a tremendous noise. He can not identify this noise, other than that it sounds like the clanging of a blacksmith's hammer on the anvil. He cannot tell if it was far away or nearby. He finds himself apprehensively awaiting each strike, which seem to grow further and further apart. It is revealed that this noise is the ticking of his watch. Then, an escape plan flashes through his mind: "throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, take to the woods and get away home." His thoughts stray back to his wife and children. The soldiers drop him down.

The story flashes back in time: Peyton Farquhar lives in the South and is a Confederate supporter. He goes out of his way to perform services to support the Confederate cause. One day, a gray-clad soldier appears at his house and tells Farquhar that Union soldiers in the area have been repairing the railroads, including the one over Owl Creek Bridge. Interested, Farquhar asks if it is possible to sabotage the bridge, to which the soldier replies that he could burn it down. When the soldier leaves, it is revealed that he is a Union scout who has lured Farquhar into a trap, as anyone caught interfering with the railroads would face execution.

In the moment's before the man's death, time seems to distort and slow down. When he is hanged, the rope breaks. Farquhar falls into the water. While underwater, he seems to take little interest in the fact that his hands, which now have a life of their own, are freeing themselves and untying the rope from around his neck. Once he finally reaches the surface, he realizes his senses are superhuman. He can see the individual blades of grass and the colors of bugs on the leaves of trees, despite the fact that he is whirling around in a river. Realizing that the men are shooting at him, he escapes and makes it to dry land.

He travels through an uninhabited and seemingly unending forest, attempting to reach his home 30 miles away. During his journey through the day and night, he is fatigued, footsore, and famished, urged on by the thought of his wife and children. He begins experiencing strange physiological events, hearing unusual noises from the wood, and believes he has fallen asleep while walking. He wakes to see his perfectly preserved home, with his beautiful and youthful wife outside. As he runs forward to reach her, he suddenly feels a searing pain in his neck; a white light flashes, and everything goes black.

It is revealed that Farquhar never escaped at all; he imagined the entire third part of the story during the time between falling through the bridge and the noose finally breaking his neck.

One can easily see the same pattern in the general story line of LOST.

A diverse group of people are somehow connected (through various flashbacks) when they board Flight 815 from Sydney to LA. During the flight, time passes slowly. It will be a long journey. Minds will wander from consciousness to dream states; from small talk to deep concentration.

Then there is turbulence. The plane shutters and shakes. The passengers are all nervous. Fear is awakened within them. The the plane rips a part in mid-air causing each person's life to flash before their eyes.

Just as in the Bierce story, a constant theme of the main characters was running through the jungle. There were strange noises, whispers and supernatural forces. There are dangers lurking on the island but there are also things missing from each person's life, such as love or friendship or a purpose. Each main character has a bout of some psychological issue. Time begins to be distorted; the past becomes the present and the present the past.

Then suddenly, it is revealed that the in the sideways world, everyone is dead. This is a purgatory that the 815 passengers "created" at the most important moment in the lives. One needs to consider that the most important moment in a person's life is their own death, whether or not one believes in an after life.

Though explained as an ABC marketing department mistake of having the 815 plane wreckage under the final series finale credits, no one can doubt that disturbing image and silence made people think. Something that many fans discounted from the very beginning. That the whole LOST story from when the plane broke a part at high altitude was not as it seemed: that the passengers and crew never survived the plane crash. Everyone re-imagined their lives during the terrifying time the plane broke a part until it crashed on the island. As with the Bierce story, LOST ends with the characters being engulfed by a white flash of light.

If LOST followed the Owl Creek Bridge literary twist, the expansive story lines of each character's fantasies, fears, dreams and hallucinations are only minutes in real time. If one is looking for a unified theory to explain (and explain away the inconsistencies), then this old (and cynical) literary form could be the answer.