The story begins with Peyton Farquhar, a rich civilian plantation and slave owner, undergoing preparation for execution by hanging. All this happens at the Alabama railroad bridge and the timing is during the American Civil War. The operation is manned by six military and infantrymen who are also manning the bridge. At the back of Farquhar’s mind existed the thought of his family. No sooner had he thought of jumping off the bridge than the soldiers cut his rope. He quickly jumped off and began to swim. Then one wonders, was he draft-dodging? This was an experience that he had been lured into by a soldier. Farquhar did not in any way attempt to avoid fighting in the war. However, from a reader’s point of view, I expected him to make it alive.
The reason why I expected him to make it alive was that first, he was lured into a trap by the very soldiers. This means that he was purely innocent. Also, I think it is a natural human instinct to have hope and to see better days after strife. This is seen as the story then shifts to a flashback where Farquhar and his wife are relaxing in their compound at a particular dusk when a soldier gets up close to the gate. Farquhar is a staunch supporter Confederacy. He, later on, learns from the soldier that Owl Creek railroad had been captured by the Union troops and was under repair. The soldier who is a disguised Union Scout indirectly incites him to burn the bridge. Unknown to Farquhar, the soldier returns in the direction he came from. He has actually lured Farquhar into a trap which could result in his hanging.
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The story flips back to the present, where the rope has been cut and Farquhar’s senses now greatly sharpened. His swims to escape away with his destination being his home, which was 30 miles away. He comes out of the water and sets home by foot all day long through an endless and thick forest. That particular night, his hallucination encounters entail strange constellations and whispering voices in a language quite unfamiliar to his senses. He continues with his journey, motivated by the simple thought of his family despite the pains caused by his ordeal. The following morning, after drifting into a heavy and deep sleep while walking, he interestingly wakes up to find himself at the gate to his plantation. He is quick to hug his wife, but no sooner had he hugged her than he felt a hefty blow upon his nape; this was followed by an extremely loud noise and a flash of white light before everything settled into darkness and silence. It appears that Farquhar never escaped at all, his escape and narrow encounter with death was nothing but a figment of his imagination. My expectation equally flowed with Farquhar’s mental flow. Positivity at its best. He was still under the custody of the soldiers who were guarding the railroad at Alabama.
Simply put, this story is an illustration that there exists no romance in war. The probability of death during war is high and the irony depicted in Farquhar’s thoughts is that more often than not, war doesn’t lead one to the embrace of his family but to death. The entire story has a hidden meaning to it. It’s more like a parable, it gives the illusion of a dignified death during war, but the reality is that the writer dupes us into believing that whatever is happening is true yet it is just but Farquhar’s imagination
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