Line Illuminator
He unclosed his eyes and saw again the water below him. “If I could free my hands,” he thought, “I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader’s farthest advance.”
As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man’s brain rather than evolved from it the captain nodded to the sergeant. The sergeant stepped aside.
Chapter 1
Upon re-reading this portion of the story, it struck me that this bit is actually severely foreshadowing the events of Peyton's "dream sequence" later on. The first paragraph recounts step for step the events of his supposed escape, falling in the stream, dodging bullets, etc., etc. In addition, in the second-to-last sentence, the author clarifies that "these thoughts...were flashed into the doomed man's brain rather than evolving from it," as if to say, you may think that this man is about to make a daring escape, but remember that it's all in his imagination.
I always find it intriguing when authors use foreshadowing to predict the events in their story, and I'm usually pretty good at recognizing when it is being used. However, for some reason when reading this short story, I failed to acknowledge the foreshadowing on my first reading and thus was thoroughly blind-sided by the tragic ending. I don't know if it's just this author's particular style, or perhaps I just didn't read it thoroughly enough the first time around, but the sneaky foreshadowing in this short story seemed particularly well-hidden. I'd be interested to hear y'all's thoughts. Were you just as blindsided? Or is it just me who missed all the author's hints that something was off about Peyton's unbelievable escape?
Good question! Why do you think we miss all of Bierce's hints that he drops like breadcrumbs? Why do want so desperately to have the Hope Farquhar will survive even when, if we truly think about it, all really isn't as it seems?
ReplyDeleteI missed a lot of them because I was really quite engrossed in the story (and I wasn't looking for question answers this time) but there is a surprising amount of foreshadowing.
ReplyDeleteI didn't catch on to any hints that it was all part of his imagination. I mean the unbelievable escape should've been a stand out but I didn't care I just wanted the man to survive so he could see his family.
ReplyDeleteI also did not pick up any of the foreshadowing. It was definitely there but like Mrs. Jones said, there is a reason we didn't catch on. The brain wants the story to be true. We want to the man to live. We want to keep hope alive. _Ethan Ham
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI just realized I doubled up on my "missing the clues" comment & also posted it on Brookes blog. Ooops! Too many blogs!!!
ReplyDeleteSo why do you guys think Farquhar didn't join the war as a soldier for the South if he was so passionately supportive of the Southern cause?
Maybe it was difficult for him to get away from his successful plantation or maybe he had some kind of criminal past that kept him from being able to join.
DeleteWell I mean he did have a family. He was very wealthy, he owned a plantation why give up that for the army? He loved all the causes he just didn't want to. Maybe he had a bad experience sometime before in the army? Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was very strange that he wasn't part of the army. The story didn't really explain it just that he wasn't able to fight.
ReplyDelete