The theme of characters "looking for something" is a common feature in many short stories and is usually the main driving force behind the plot. This same theme is evident in Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin, Paul's Case by Willa Cather, and finally An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce. The protagonists of these stories: Sonny, Paul and Peyton Farquhar are all looking for an escape from a certain aspect of their lives. For Sonny it is the desire to challenge the stereotypes of the typical Harlem hoodlum, Paul's quest involves him losing all his ties to the narrow-minded middle class around him by fully emerging into the world of art, and Farquhar's is that of abandoning his boring life for something more adventurous. These searchesThis Harlem is the Harlem that Sonny knew. This Harlem disintegrated the moral fiber of the young people who lived there, as demonstrated in a study conducted in Harlem over the course of fifteen years. The study concluded that “residence in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods can influence psychological functioning and drug use through a number of mechanisms: an increase in the physiological stress response, increased opportunities to obtain drugs, and drug use by of peers” (Brook, et al. 357 ). Therefore, it is possible to see that growing up in such a place, an individual is predisposed to drug use and must fight feverishly to avoid it. This is exactly what Sonny is doing and why he is looking for a possible way out of the ghetto. This is highlighted in the dialogue between Sonny and the narrator, when the narrator asks Sonny, "what the hell do you want to go and join the army for?" and Sonny replies, “To get out of Harlem” (Baldwin 33). Bored with the plantation lifestyle, he is desperately looking for a way to show his devotion to the cause of Southern secession. After being "prevented from serving in the army", Farquhar takes matters into his own hands and adopts a more rebellious to gain purpose and excitement in his life (Bierce 53). Farquhar fails in this, and even in the last minutes of his life in which he dangles on the bridge, he spends them fantasizing about the "magnificent, ... [and] superhuman strength" that he wishes he could exhibit in his imaginary escape. from his captors, just as he was seeking release from his boring reality (Bierce 55). Bierce effectively communicates Farquhar's gap between reality and illusion through foreshadowing and by not making it clear that his escape, while exaggerated and hard to believe at first, was all an illusion.