He must have traveled the entire night. As he pushes open the gate and passes up the wide white walk, he sees a utter of female garments; his wife, looking fresh and cool and sweet, steps down from the veranda to meet him. At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of matchless grace and dignity. Ah, how beautiful she is! He springs forwards with extended arms. As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon—then all is darkness and silence! (chapter 19)
This passage stands out to me because while reading the story, I thought that him escaping, being shot at, etc... was part of the story, but this ending implies that it was all in his head and getting back to his family was a fantasy. Another possible and more likable ending, (at least for me ;) is that Fahrquhar did return to his family, but he lost consciousness before he saw them due to the rope burns around his neck. I'm a little confused about the ending of the story because it says that Peyton Fahrquhar was dead with a broken neck and he swung gently but right before that happened, he hears a sound like the shock of a cannon. This doesn't make sense, because I researched what happens when you are hung, and in most cases, you lose consciousness in seconds and then die in minutes so I don't think Peyton would have heard a sound like the shock of a cannon.
Another part of this passage I struggle with is it says that Peyton felt a stunning blow upon the back of his neck. However, it also says that his neck is broken. This is confusing to me because when you are held up by boards or some structure of sorts, and then it is yanked from under you so you drop, in most cases if you break your neck you break your spinal cord as well. If the spinal cord was broken, Peyton wouldn't have been able to feel a stunning blow upon his back because 1, he would be dead and 2, if the spinal cord is broken, you can't feel anything. Could it be that Peyton broke only his neck and not his spinal cord too? If so, what would he have died from first? A broken neck or suffocation?
I see what you're saying with the confusion from the ending. A thought I had is that maybe he didn't really escape or do anything he though. Maybe he was dead or near to death from the beginning and while he was about to be hung he hallucinated running and escaping. The stunning blow to his neck could have been it genuinely breaking in the real world. Perhaps the the enemy had gotten to his family first and his wife was already dead. If so, him "returning to his wife" really could have meant him dying, going to heaven, and her greeting him at heaven's gates.
ReplyDeleteOhhh that's really interesting because while he was "drowning" it said something like he wanted to die but maybe he wanted to see if his wife and kids were ok. I wonder if the ending "he saw her but suddenly she disapeared" had any spirtual significance like them going different places after death?
DeleteThat's so weird to think about. I wish the story had been a little bit longer so we didn't have to speculate so much. However, in some ways I wonder if he wanted each person to have their own interpretation on it, and that's what makes it such an interesting story.
DeleteI have heard that when people break a bone, they mentally see a white light flash. Possibly, when Peyton falls, all within a second he may have heard his neckbone break, which would be the shocking sound that is compared to a canon and he sees white flash as it snaps. Next he either passes out or dies instantly.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good thought, and would make sense if that happened thanks for your commet! I wonder how long it would take for him to die if he just passed out instantly?
DeleteInteresting comments! Have you all considered what oxygen deprivation does to the brain? And we will talk more about this topic in class. I'm impressed, Bryce, that you did some research. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I can't wait to talk about this story in class. The ending was really unexpected!
DeleteYes, I look up what oxygen deprivation does to the brain. It says that Cerebral hypoxia is a condition when there is low supply of oxygen for the brain, and its caused by drowning, strangling, choking, suffocation, cardiac arrest, head trauma, carbon monoxide poisoning, and complications of general anesthesia.
DeleteOnline I found an article about oxygen deprivation that said it is linked to near-death experiences. This makes sense for what the author described...
DeleteInteresting, hopefully he died without pain, but that hope does seem doubtful. Confusion and dizziness are both side effect of oxygen deprivation, some of the thoughts and actions may be result of that.
ReplyDeleteYes, if I would have known that before reading the story then I would have probably guessed that he was just imagining everything.
ReplyDeleteGood research Bryce. I didn’t know that suffocation is part of what actually caused death during hanging. I think he would’ve died from his neck snapping.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Farquhar never went to see his family. I think it was all a vision.
I will admit that I was surprised by his death at the end of the story, but when I thought about it more, there was no possible way that some of the things Bearce wrote could have happened.