Comments by
Graham Billings
This clip is very interesting. I believe Farquhar’s arm-extensions are in fact the same event, and are shown repeatedly in order to emphasize the slow passing of time. In the story, the woman never touches him; she does in the clip. In the movie, her hands may symbolize the hands of death, as when her hands reach his neck he dies.
The camera choice in this clip is interesting. As Dan and Rachel have pointed out, the trip is the most noteworthy part of this clip. How the cameraman started by zooming in and slowly zooming out – rather than running with Farquhar – added to the “escaping” sense. The drums could represent either his footsteps or those of his pursuers. Without the drums, the clip would be much different.
This clip was the one that least related to the story, in my opinion. The movie had a lot more emphasis on his escape and less on his emotions. The director probably had to do this because it is much harder to display emotions in a movie whereas an author can just describe them. Still, I feel that the movie over-emphasizes his escape.
This was my favorite clip of the movie. It combines both the distorted sense of time and Farquhar’s heightened perception. I wonder what this part of the dream translates to in reality – does it coincide with a point in the hanging, which creates this slowed-down sense of time? The silhouettes and slow movements by the actors really promoted this effect.
I disagree. I feel that the music really takes away from the clip. The rest of the movie makes the viewer feel as if he is alone with Farquhar; this clip brings in an outside party, a singer, to express Farquhar’s emotions. I feel that the clip would have achieved the same effect – or possibly a greater one – without the use of the music.
This part raised the question: how would this movie be different if it had no sound? The movie doesn’t need sound to develop the plot, only the viewer’s response. The actors do a good job of playing their characters – and evoking the right response from the viewer – without having to speak.
To me it seems that the video quality as we see it is done purposely. Black and white, grainy clips, and shakiness adds to the effect of the movie and makes you truly feel like you are in the Civil War.
This story was written in 1890, 35 years after the end of the Civil War. Ambrose Bierce was in the Union army in the Civil War, but the public perception of the war had already changed by the time of the writing of this piece. How do you feel Bierce’s own perceptions of the war influenced his writing? How do you think the perceptions of society influenced the writing and the reading of this piece?
I believe the relationships between individuals was different back then. If you saw someone wearing your own colors, you would assume they had the same cause as you and therefore was your brother and trustable. Conversations like this were commonplace between soldiers, civilians, and between the two groups.
Up to this period in the Civil War, the fighting was not about slavery. Instead the North was concerned about defeating the will of the South to continue fighting. There was little oversight over the individual actions of leaders and soldiers, and corruption was rampant. Even if Farquhar had done nothing wrong, it would not have been out of the ordinary for him to have been captured and executed. Although he technically could not have been executed for owning slaves, he could be for being behind enemy lines.
I thought the same thing as Colleen. Last winter seems to be a long time ago from the current moment, and it would seem the Union troops would have moved the driftwood to prevent someone from burning down the bridge. It all seems like a setup just to catch Farquhar.
This paragraph seems to be the author acting as a narrator when in the previous paragraphs he has acted as just an author. This seems to be the final moment before the last paragraph of the story.
I love the suddenness of this line. The Owl Creek bridge that he went to destroy is now his death. It reminds the readers that few people escape the noose, regardless of how deserving they may be. However, is it truly the reader or the author who created this perception?
Farquhar’s dream-like state continues as he quenches his thirst without water and walks without feeling the ground. He must be close to exhaustion after the previous events, but he is able to continue on. Mentally, however, he is obviously not all there.
The cannon fired the grapeshot at Farquhar as he expected. However, his luck continues as the grapeshot – which almost definitely should have hit him in real life – missed because of the trees. The random farewell signals Farquhar’s success over his executioners.
As Rachel said, grapeshot is the use of a lot of small objects – whether balls, rocks, or anything else that can do damage. The “report” is the sound of the shot, which, as a result of the collection of small objects, comes after the shots have already hit. He says it is a good gun because it has a much larger area of effect – although it is extremely inaccurate, it hits a very wide area and has a much greater chance of hitting Farquhar.
The capitalization of diminuendo and use of exclamation points are interesting. Again, it seems like the author is trying to force the reader to see something by it. The diminuendo refers to the whistle of the cannonball as it shoots by and continues on its path into the forest. Another interesting thing is the use of “strangled.” The noose did not strangle him, the fear did not strangle him – but the river did?
This must be why the soldiers are guarding prisoners and not on the front. Farquhar believes himself to be extremely lucky since they are such bad shots. Understandably, Civil war-era rifles had a very limited range, but for several marksmen to miss repeatedly is quite a spectacle. Farquhar seems to believe himself to be safe and knows that their shots are ineffective.
Are you sure they are spears, Kaitlyn? I thought the author was describing bullets. Of course, Farquhar is unable to “snatch” out a bullet from his neck, but he felt like he could. This paragraph returns to the dreamy state of being described in earlier paragraphs. I find it interesting that, in his dreams, he was so encapsulated by reality in some points and so detached in others.
As Amanda said, this is where the “singsong” quality comes from. I find it interesting that the author chose to write out the words and try to make the reader feel the song rather than just describe it. It has seemed that, thus far, the author has preferred to seem detached – except when going inside Farquhar’s mind – and in this instance it seems that the author is definitely trying to get the reader to feel something.
This paragraph stands in contrast to the previous one, where Farquhar is much more focused on the realities and less about the metaphorical beings around him. I noticed the same thing, Amanda – Farquhar seems to feel like he is destined to live and can beat luck.
This is very descriptive and helps you really see what is going on. I can imagine the soldiers in silhouette – their blue uniforms against the blue sky – seemingly in slow motion shooting at Farquhar. The paragraph seems to be like a dream, where the details are fuzzy but the emotions and looks are vivid.
Zhenya makes a great point – the reader wants to believe Farquhar will make it. This part is quite different from the movie version. The movie seemed to be a lot more concerned with his escape, while the story describes more about the feeling of it all. I love some of these metaphors the author uses, even if it makes it a hard read.
I do not believe this paragraph shows that Farquhar is to blame for his fate. He would do anything for the Southern cause, and seeing a “confederate” soldier would evoke his sense of duty, especially since he wasn’t able to fight. However, the following conversation does not seem very realistic to me. Spies at the time were not concerned with capturing and executing individuals as much as gathering intelligence.
The “fall of Corinth” is a reference to the Battle of Corinth in 1862. After the Battle of Shiloh, Confederate General Beauregard retreated to Corinth. The combined forces of Halleck (the Union commander-in-chief) and Rosecrans attacked the city several months later and re-took the city, capturing a strategic point along the Mississippi.
This creates two feelings for me – both that Farquhar was a trustworthy man, devoted to his cause, but also that he deserves to die. The word “villainous” is very interesting in this situation because it takes away from the idea that Farquhar is a blameless protagonist.
When do we think this took place? I was thinking about 1863 or 1864. Anyone else have any ideas?
I agree. The author has laid it out such that the man is the hero even though we have no reason to relate to him. The soldiers, captain, and everyone else in the story all have families and children as well – and if they were caught behind enemy lines, they would have been killed. In this instance, they were just doing their job. Still, seeing into the mind of this man makes us relate to him more.
I disagree with Craig – I felt that the word choice took away from the author’s message. I recognize that this story seems to be very “awkward” and that it does not read like a normal story. The description of the sheriff and the support position was distracting and took away from the message those descriptions were supposed to represent. However, that may have been the author’s point.