Comments by
Alex Lowe
i like how this scene is dragged out.. it seems that the director could have made it very quick and to-the-point, but the detail placed on each step in preparing the noose/putting it on definitely emphasizes the fear building up both in peyton & the audience… much more effective than just showing a quick shot of the noose being put around his neck.
agreed. this scene in the movie does an excellent job of producing the shock and surprise the reader feels in the story. it is obviously a very important element to bierce’s text, and the movie delivers it well.
i still have to disagree and say that i don’t like the song. although i do think it works a little better here than before, i still can’t get past it for some reason.. i just don’t think it works.
this scene makes me very anxious/nervous.. just the whole idea of struggling to “untie” himself while underwater for that long freaks me out. i definitely agree with lacy — this scene does show a lot of the physical pain the reader/viewer doesn’t see as much in the rest of the story.
i love the ‘serenity’ of this scene & i think it does a really good job of showing the detail bierce includes in the text. once again, the movie does an excellent job of portraying the story… i think this would be my favorite scene in the movie if it wasn’t for the ridiculous song playing in the background.
i agree with daniel — i think the video is very accurate in portraying the story the way it is written, which is sort of a tough thing to do. it seems as though everything — the black and white/graininess, the point of view of the camera, etc — is working to stay true to the text.
i think dan made an interesting point — the description of peyton could very well also be a description of him already dead. i didn’t catch this the first time, but it really works.
i definitely agree that the audience wants to be “fooled” — i know i would have been had i not known the outcome before i read the story. i think the way bierce uses such descriptive language about the feelings and sensations peyton is going through plays a large part in fooling the reader — it makes everything seem so realistic, and the reader really begins to feel like he/she is going through this right there along with peyton.. even though it’s not really happening.
the first time i read the story i sort of dismissed this paragraph and didn’t really read it thoroughly — whoops! i missed that last crucial line completely.
i feel like i can see this scene playing out in my head, too! even though there is no written evidence of it, i also get the feeling that the soldier is smirking while saying this, because he has obviously succeeded. they picked the right type of guy to manipulate, because peyton is so eager to help, but i’m still sort of wondering/confused about why they chose him in the first place. i probably completely missed something significant, but do we know why they are targeting peyton?
i still just think that peyton is a little naive and blinded by his eagerness to help out his side. while he does seem a tad arrogant and maybe a little rash in decision making, i’m sticking with the thought that he is just a little too consumed with helping out his people to see the entire situation for what it really is, because it is obviously a trap.
i agree with graham and jordan.. i think this guy is so consumed with helping out the south and doing his “duty” that the thought does not even cross his mind that this could be a trap. i think if anything is to blame for his fate, it is not his rashness of decision making but rather the fact that he has allowed his overwhelming sense of duty for the south to almost “blind” him.
that’s an interesting thought about the meaning of white.. it’s very probable that it does in fact symbolize something, and i think “innocence” is a good guess as to what bierce was trying to show. i think it also may also represent some naivety on mrs. farquhar’s part– if this whole situation is in fact a trap, she is innocently and unknowingly helping to further the death of her husband.
while i think peyton was just doing the normal “honorable” duty of someone from the south during this particular time period, i agree that it doesn’t really make me respect him that much. i agree with lacy in that this passage makes me less sympathetic towards peyton, because he seems to know what he was getting himself into.
i love how bierce seems to constantly shift back and forth between “dreams” and “reality” (even when this supposed “reality” is within the dreaming.. if that makes any sense whatsoever). this is definitely a solid note to end on. the sudden shift back to reality is obviously meant to surprise the reader, and i think it’s the perfect way to end the story — in just one abrupt sentence the entire story is concluded, and the reader is left completely caught off guard.
i agree with daniel — i don’t think at this point he is seriously thinking about escaping. it seems to me that everyone would have these extreme “what if” thoughts in the same situation. i don’t think he has any intention or real hope of fulfilling this plan — just last minute fantasies.
i can’t really conclude how i feel about the man after reading this paragraph. on the one hand, from the description i feel like he is a good guy — details like the “kindly expression” make me feel pity for him and want to believe he was innocent and good. however, at the same time, in the back of my head there’s this voice saying that he had to have done something to deserve this.. the nice description the author gives him contrasts with the situation he is in — that of a criminal — and it kind of leaves me with mixed feelings.. that just may be me though.
i completely agree.. this topic is actually really similar to the podcast my group about the psychological effects of war. the unemotional way in which bierce describes the scenes and actions of these soliders seems very characteristic of someone who has been in war.. a lot of times they come out completely drained of emotions and the ability to “feel” — in order to psychologically handle what they’ve seen and done, many seem to detatch themselves completely and just go through the motions. this is exactly how bierce seems to be describing the mental state of these soldiers — kind of just going through the motions, because it’s too difficult to deal with on a real level. i think he is drawing from personal experience & probably does a very good job at accurately portraying the “role” of the soldiers in all this.
this pararaph reminds me of paragraph three in that it definitely slows the action down as peyton takes time to look at his surroundings. once again, the suspensful, fast-paced action stops abruptly as he takes in the nature around him with awe.. as before, i think this is largely meant to signify new feelings of freedom and appreciation after somehow “escaping” his fate once again.
i love this paragraph because i can picture it in my head.. i feel like i am seeing through peyton’s eyes. while it definitely plays out like a dream (it seems as though everything is silent and happening in slow motion, even though it is actually taking place in about a split second), i think this scene acts as a “calm before the storm” as peyton comes back to reality.
i agree with soham that this paragraph, especially the end, seems to slow things down rather suddenly. the pretty figurative language in the last couple sentences is very peaceful and almost optimistic — it definitely forces the reader to stop and “breathe” after the previous paragraphs, which to me were very suspensful & moved very fast.. it really does give the impression of peyton having a new, more appreciative view of the world after just escaping certain death.
all the references to the stillness of the scene in this paragraph (“stonily,” “motionless,” etc) made me apprehensive.. i don’t really know if that’s what the author was going for or not, but i almost felt like it was like that point in a movie where everything is still right before chaos breaks out.. not really foreshadowing exactly, but similar in a way. to me the stillness is almost a signal that some kind of “action” is about to happen.
this entire opening definitely gives a very cold, unattached feeling.. the author goes into a lot of description without ever mentioning any emotions or feelings. to me, he seemed very nonchalant about the entire thing — descriptive, yet very indifferent. i almost felt like he could have been describing something as ordinary as a house — it was sort of creepy! however, i guess it is all just to show how unattached these people had to make themselves from the war in order to deal with it psychologically.
i completely agree with you guys about the significance of “formal and unnatural.” i think that if the author had been trying to strictly describe the position of the gun here, he could have used a much simpler description (or maybe just one of the words), but it seems as though he put a lot of thought into choosing this detailed description, obviously referring to the situation as a whole.