Student Question
Why is Peyton Farquhar anonymous until the second part of the story?
Quick answer:
In "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," Peyton Farquhar remains anonymous initially to heighten suspense and focus on the dramatic situation. This anonymity reflects the naturalistic theme of indifference, illustrating the coldness of war. The story begins in media res, emphasizing the setting and action over personal details. Farquhar's identity and backstory are revealed in Part 2, providing context and satisfying the reader's curiosity, while paralleling the anonymity of the soldier who deceives him.
It would perhaps be more correct to say that the author Ambrose Bierce chose to start the story in media res and reserve all of his exposition until Part 2 of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge ." Nothing would be gained dramatically if Bierce had revealed the condemned man's name at the beginning of the story. The author might feel compelled to reveal more about him than his name, which means nothing by itself. The way Bierce handled the story is one of the best things about it. Naturally we want to know who this man is and why he is being hanged, as well as a lot of other details. But the author can easily keep the reader in suspense because the scene described in Part 1 and the emotions being experienced by the man we later learn is named Peyton Farquhar are so compelling that they...
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forestall any questions we might have about what led up to this execution. Bierce fully intended to satisfy his reader's curiosity about theprotagonist, including the reader's desire to know what he did and how he got caught doing it. All of this is very neatly covered in what amounts to a flashback in Part 2. When we finish reading Part 2 we are fully satisfied that we know everything we need to know about Peyton Farquhar and his foiled attempt to sabotage the Owl Creek Bridge.
The soldier reflected. "I was there a month ago," he replied. "I observed that the flood of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier at this end of the bridge. It is now dry and would burn like tinder."
The lady had now brought the water, which the soldier drank. He thanked her ceremoniously, bowed to her husband and rode away. An hour later, after nightfall, he repassed the plantation, going northward in the direction from which he had come. He was a Federal scout.
The ominous concluding words of Part 2 tell a great deal that is not actually dramatized in the story. We can almost see the whole scenario. Farquhar rode to Owl Creek Bridge at night, tied his horse to a tree some little distance from the bridge, crept up to the driftwood and doused it with a whole can of kerosene. Then as he lit the match a dozen dark lanterns were uncovered and he found himself surrounded by Union soldiers. He had walked into a trap. And that explains why he is standing on Owl Creek Bridge in the opening sentences of Part 1, waiting to be hanged. It is beautiful storytelling and explains why "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is so often anthologized and why it is considered Ambrose Bierce's best short story.
Peyton Farquhar does not pay attention to the details which might save his life...had he been observant, he may have noticed something about the uniform of the soldier he welcomed into his home or that he doubled back and headed to the Union army instead of the Rebel army.
Farquhar's sole goal and interest is in being a hero for the war. He jumps at the opportunity to be this hero at the suggestion of the disguised Union soldier that burning the bridge would be a great deed.
Farquhar, consequently, is captured and sentenced to death. He is reduced to only a person who fell into the trap of the Union--not a hero, not a wealthy landowner, not a famous soldier.
His anonymity also parallels the anonymous soldier who visits. Farquhar just takes him at face value...no name, just a uniform of the Rebel army and a symbol of his home in the South. It is part of the brutality of war and the injustice of innocence paying for the mistakes of others.
A central theme of Naturalism is the indifference of Nature to what happens to the individual. This indifference is conveyed by Bierce's objective narration in part I in which only an observation of the setting and character is provided. The focus of the reader falls to the setting and action of the instruments of war who observe military etiquette in "silence and fixity," at least until the man ponders his death as he becomes conscious of his watch ticking. Thus, the anonymity of the character conveys the coldness of war and indifference of Nature.
With this focus now on an individual, the observations of part II are from within the character of Peyton Farquhar as well as outside him; thus, the narration switches to omniscient narration in part II; the narrator knows everything, the inner thoughts of his character as well as his actions. In part III the narrator switches to limited third person as the narrator focuses solely on the thoughts and feelings of one character. With this narration, the reader begins to identify with the character.
However, the stark ending returns the reader to the very indifference of life and the brutality of war. As he is in the beginning of the story, Peyton Farquhar becomes just a man, a prisoner now dead.