"At last he found a road which led him in what he knew to be the right direction. It was as wide and straight as a city street, yet it seemed untraveled. No fields bordered it, no dwelling anywhere. Not so much as the barking of a dog suggested human habitation. The black bodies of the trees formed a straight wall on both sides, terminating on the horizon in a point, like a diagram in a lesson in perspective. Overhead, as he looked up through this rift in the wood, shone great golden stars looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange constellation." Chapter 3
I think that this helps point out that this is not really reality, but that it's all being made up by him. Because he can't seem to incorporate any people or animals besides the soldiers that he has just seen in reality. He can't make up buildings or anything like that to show any form of human life. He also seems to be losing details in his new-reality, he went from seeing details about the forest, and the bridge in his escape to seeing the forest turning to walls, and seeing stars in front of him almost like seeing heaven. He is starting to loose sight of everything except that which he sees right in front of him. The road he found "seemed untraveled" he said almost like it was a road leading him somewhere different, somewhere like heaven, instead of to his home in which he thought he was going.
What do you guys think?
Good insight, Emilee! Roads, in dreams, symbolize the paths life takes us on & also the choices we make in choosing different paths.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good catch to realize Farquhar doesn't see people - only things like strange, unfamiliar stars. These things give us clues that this narrative isn't reality, but we tend to ignore these clues & remain with Farquhar in his fantasy world. Were you surprised at the ending or did you accept the idea that Farquhar escaped?
Personally it seemed real until Farquhar got to the unending 'walls of forest' and can't find a road or a person or anything that he recognized. Even though he was in familiar areas it was just kinda weird that he couldn't recognize anything and then all of the sudden finds the gates to his home. I personally think that the gates may have resembled Heaven in a sense.
DeleteI agree with you about the gates to his house resembling the gates of heaven. I think there's suppose to be some sort of connection between the two.
DeleteHonestly I saw the ending coming he was escaping to many things for it to be true. There was also a lot of foreshadowing that made the ending pretty easy to guess. I had a feeling it wasn't reality and that he wasn't really gonna make it, it was a really good attempt by the author though.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea Emilee! I think its really interesting to think about how the road can resemble a pathway to heaven. It was a great reminder to me that we should keep our minds focused on eternal things and not the things of this world.
ReplyDeleteIt's almost like the stars were suppose to be showing him the way like they did for the wisemen leading him to somewhere important. Lighting his path so he knew what direction to go in.
DeleteI definitely like the thought process behind the passage you chose Emilee! It seemed like the unending 'walls of forest' and darkeness resembled him not being able to breath any longer and the 'golden stars' is a reminder of Heaven.
ReplyDeletethe "walls of forest" and "golden stars" are definitely suppose to represent something, or many things. I think you're on to something with them representing heaven and him not being able to breath.
DeleteFascinating thought. I had not considered the symbolism of these observations until reading your post. There was a Twilight Zone episode made using this story, so I already knew the ending, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteI also think that your point was very strong and I strongly agree that we need to be focusing on being a light for God.
ReplyDeleteSo for those of you who haven't made 2 comments on my blog, I entered a new question in all caps at the bottom of all of the comments (the bottom at the time!) Jump over there to comment! I asked if you all think Ambrose Bierce has any kind of faith in God. Is there anything in the story that supports what you think?
ReplyDeleteAs far as I can tell, there is no mention of any religion in the story. Because of this, it is difficult to discern the author's religion at all. Certain parts can be interpreted as such, but you can find Christian-like themes in virtually anything. For this reason, I am undecided as to whether Ambrose Bierce was Christian or not.
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