Sunday, January 23, 2011
I realize this is incredibly nit-picky of me, but I noticed on the bottom of page four of the Bierce that instead of saying that Farquhar opened his eyes he "unclosed" them. I don't know if Bierce intended it that way, but is this word choice significant at all? Is it possible that this is another clue to the illusion of his escape? I really have no answer to this, I just want to know what everyone else has to say about it.
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I would say that this makes it look like closed eyes is their natural state. but I don't see anything else that suggests this, unless even that was after his hanging and part of his imagination.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the whole concept of this book is to make the reader believe that he had escaped when in reality he was dead all along. So yes, I think this was another clue.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Thomas: it seems as if Bierce wanted to imply that closed eyes are natural. In that case, maybe it could be interpreted as symbol for oblivion. Closed eyes= the ignorance of truth and also the affinity towards what is more pleasant or what is convincing.
ReplyDeleteProps to the original poster!! :)
That was a really good catch. I definitely agree with Katie here. The reader "uncloses" their eyes at the end of the book. We unquestioningly believe the story, until the truth is revealed and then we are forced to open our eyes and see reality.
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