Unfortunately I didn't print off my homework until today, so I totally forgot I was supposed to post an assignment over the weekend. After glancing at all of my literature circle's discussions, I also realize you already started discussing topics I had wondered about :) However, I believe the ending passages to be of significance too.
Chapter 3: Quote & Explanation
"By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, famishing. The thought of his wife and children urged him on. At last he found a road which led him in what he knew to be the right direction...
His neck was in pain and lifting his hand to it he found it horribly swollen. He knew that it had a circle of black where the rope had bruised it...
Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking, for now he sees another scene - perhaps he has merely recovered from a delirium. He stands at the gate of his own home. All is as he left it, and all bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine. He must have traveled the entire night. As he pushes open the gate and passes up the wide white walk, he sees a flutter of female garments; his wife, looking fresh and cool and sweet, steps down from the veranda to meet him. At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of matchless grace and dignity. Ah, how beautiful she is! He springs forward with extended arms. 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 canon - then all is darkness and silence!
Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge."
I picked the ending of the story, because all stories increase in intensity and confusion up until the ending, and then they are explained, resolved, or concluded as a whole. Throughout the story, I was slightly confused on the whole escape part, but I didn't realize it was all a dream until I found out he was dead. I was caught up in the drama and hope for his escape that I didn't notice or understand all of the clues of the unrealistic happenings.
I believe this to be significant, because it involves the motivation of his mindset and inward struggle. The whole dream and struggle of escaping he described so vividly could have been referring to how he felt and what he was thinking or wishing would happen right before he died from suffocation. Because he ended up dying, his escape was a dream. But why was it a dream? If he cared so much about his family, why wasn't he willing to risk the death of being shot over the death of being hanged and drowned if the risk of being shot meant he had another chance to live and be with his family? Also, maybe the relief of seeing his safe home and happy wife in his dreams allowed him to finally give in to death.
In my perspective, I think that Peyton is trying to distract himself. Thinking of his family, listening to his watch, imagining his "escape", all of these could be attempts to distract his mind from his apparent condition or his current surroundings.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's true. I would definitely need a distraction if I was about to be killed. After reading the whole process of his dreamt escape though, it's just sad that he didn't actually try to live it out.
DeleteFrom the story I gathered that the only way he could have lived out his dream was if the rope around his neck would break. If it had broken in real life I am positive he would have tried to escape as he did in his dream. But since the rope didn't break Peyton never got the chance.
DeleteGood point, maybe that is true! I guess I just thought that if he was able to free his hands and neck under water, why wouldn't he be able to free them above water and then jump into the water to escape (unless water helped the ropes loosen)? But I guess being in the water as an unconscious body first wouldn't draw as much attention to him as visibly trying to free the rope and dive in.
DeleteHere's another comment, the opening sentences say that Peyton was feeling several things, such as fatigue, footsore, and hunger. I don't necessarily find significance in what he was feeling but rather that he was feeling. Outside of the dream, Peyton could have been feeling these things while he was standing on the bridge. In fact, with Bierce being a satirical person, he could be writing these things in such a confusing way just for the purpose of confusing his readers.
ReplyDeleteOr possibly Peyton was so extremely fatigued and famished that he began hallucinating. Too far-fetched or what do yall think?
DeleteI think that Peyton was tying not to focus on being hung so he thought of his family and on the way he could escape if he had a chance, but as we know his chance never came. Other thoughts?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think that Peyton really felt that way which could've caused him to hallucinate. And I agree that he was trying to distract himself by having his last thoughts be about his family or on any possibilities of escaping.
ReplyDelete* That he really felt the pain, but obviously didn't really experience the actions in his dream which is how he was hallucinating. The pain he was feeling was incorporated in his "dream" of escaping/ hallucination. Hope that makes sense :)
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