Read the two excerpts from section 3 of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." Then all at once, with terrible suddenness, the light about him shot upward with the noise of a loud splash; a frightful roaring was in his ears, and all was cold and dark. The power of thought was restored; he knew that the rope had broken and he had fallen into the stream.
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As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon—then all is darkness and silence!
What does the motif of a loud sound represent in the story?
the passage between the North and the South
the passage between dreams and reality
the contrast between right and wrong
the contrast between one’s family and one’s enemies