First of all, what a depressing book(not really). I thought it was a good book then *boom surprise ending.
"he was now in full possession of his physical senses. They were, indeed preternaturally keen and alert." " he noted the prismatic colors in all the dew drops upon a million blades of grass." (Pg. 24 last paragraph)
I find this interesting that he had a stronger sense of his natural surroundings. He says that he could hear the sound of dragonfly's wings fluttering and could see the leaf veins. Now of course he isn't "with it" and he is dreaming and such but that fact that Ambrose put that in there is a weird supernatural thing, almost like he has superpowers like Spiderman where he could hear and see things that couldn't be seen or heard in the normal eyes/ears. Its can be considered confusing though why Ambrose threw that in there.
All in all its a good book!
Tate - Did you believe the in the escape all the way to the end? I did the 1st time I read this. Why doe you suppose we are so ready to believe in the escape? And do you think the body's response to trauma (adrenalin rush) has anything to do with Farquhar's super powers? Ask your mom about her experiences working with trauma victims & see what she says!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, by the way!!!
At first, I did think it was real, too! Maybe it;s because we get caught up in the action and don't think too much about whether it's actually possible.
DeleteYes your adrenalin does give you some extra strength and makes your senses more aware but to hear dragonflys wings flutter and see leaf veins while in a river floating downstream. And I guess its because when we start reading a book like that our minds assume what we are reading to normally go for the best and assume that he escapes and lives, even though he doesn't.
ReplyDeleteIt is incredible that by these minor altercations in reality Bierce can actually make the reader feel the confusion and disorientation that Farquhar must have been feeling in the oxygen starved, emotion/adrenaline filled moments before his death!
ReplyDeleteIt's cool how Bierce was so detailed with Farquhar's imagination and senses.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I believed the escape was real, because I knew the book still had some length. I thought all the weird tidbits could be him seeing the world through new eyes and appreciating it better now that he has had a narrow escape. Not to depress you further, Tate, but I was speculating that his empty house would have been left sacked and burned by the Union soldiers by the time he got there. Either that or he would be captured just as he reached home. You just don't get happy endings with guys like this! ;)
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree, your not really sure which books are going to have happy endings, that's why we have to read the whole book :)
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree with you Hannah I too thought his house was going to be destroyed/maybe his wife not being there when he "returned"
ReplyDelete