What Details To Focus On

          I, as I would assume any reader after finishing "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge," felt pretty dumb after reading the last sentence. I felt dumb because for one, I had begun reading the short story without much precaution, despite fully understanding the premise of the class and the continual use of deception in what we read. I learned that about myself- that I am an overly trusting reader.
         Right when I finished the short story, I retraced my notes to see if I was even subconsciously picking up on any clues. What I found was that although I was taking notes trying to piece something together, my notes never questioned the narrator's trustworthiness. I was more inclined to assume I had misunderstood something than assert that a detail in the narrative did not match up with other parts of the story. An example of this was in part 3 when it says, "As Peyton Farquhar fell straight downward through the bridge he lost consciousness and as as one already dead." Here, Bierce directly tells the reader that Farquhar lost consciousness and died. But for some reason, I chose to let that detail slide probably to what I considered creative, figurative license. He wasn't saying he was actually dead, no he must have been saying he was figuratively or cognitively dead in that frazzling moment.
          What I noticed that I did pay attention to more, were distracting, insignificant details, which I presume Bierce purposefully used to keep his readers busy while he secretly deceived them. I made a lot of notes alluding to clicking clocks and time, and his descriptions of stone-like people, observations which did not help me pick up on the trick of the story. Obviously, I need to pay attention to more than details and ask larger questions while reading.