1. What is Peyton Farquhar’s occupation? He was a planter. 2. Why is he not a soldier, officer, or part of the army? The circumstances of “ imperious nature” 3. How much time actually elapses between the opening and closing lines of Part III? From morning to the next day. 4. Describe the setting at the opening of the story. He describes the setting where Farquhar is about to be hung and they are preparing for it. 5. Describe Peyton Farquhar’s last thoughts. He starts to think about the stream and how he could get away then he goes to thinking about his wife and children. . Identify and describe the sound that disturbs the thoughts going through his mind. The shots from the guns and the bullets hitting the water. 7. In the flashback of the story’s second section, who visits Peyton Farquhar? A federal scout. 8. What plan does Farquhar conceive as a result of this visit? He wanted to go to the bridge. 9. What does Farquhar imagine in the story’s last section? That he lives and escapes from his death and ends up home but right as he is about to hug his wife he sees a light and then dies. 0. Ironically, what is his real fate? He died instantly when he was hung. 11. Summarize what you think this story reveals about the psychology of a person in a life or death situation. In a life or death situation the mind tends to think of a situation in which you live. I think the brain is trying to have you think positively throughout it, instead of imagining your death ahead of you. 12. How does Bierce prepare us for the final outcome of the story?
He creates this scenario in which Peyton lives but in the end it goes black and he describes how he dies. 13. Do you think the writer tries to enlist your sympathies toward either the Union or Confederate side? Or, does the story seem more focused on a more general theme about the nature of war? Cite details from the story to support your answer. I feel he is more focused on the general theme about the nature of war, because I don’t think he was trying to get me to see that Union or the Confederates were bad people.