“A Hanging” ends with the prison guards continuing their day after the execution of a man. “We all had a drink together, natives and Europeans, in a fairly friendly manner. The dead man was about a hundred meters away. (335) The simplicity of the ending tells the reader how normal an execution is for men. It also helps show how simple the short is in its entirety. The ending of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” was a plot twist. As a reader, I could assume that Farquhar had failed to escape his death, but as a kind-hearted person, I still had hope that he would. However, my hopes were shattered by the end of Ambrose Bierce. Its ending which involved Farquhar seeing the family was once again completely changed because of these simple words "Peyton Farquhar was dead..." Although both stories have simple endings, the two differ.