An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge ending explained

What happens

Farquhar's escape and run home were imagined in the instant of his hanging. As he embraces his wife, the film cuts back to the bridge, where he hangs dead from the rope.

The last image

Farquhar's body hangs from the rope beneath the bridge, the escape revealed as a dying dream.

What it says

The ending shows how fiercely a mind clings to life and home, even in its last second. The run's beauty is what makes the cut so cruel, while the soldiers treat him as a task to be completed.