"Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking, for now he sees another scene - perhaps he has merely recovered from a delirium. He stands at the gate of his own home. All is as he left it, and all bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine... at the bottom of the steps [his wife] stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of matchless grace and dignity." (Chapter 3)
This passage comes just before the final plot twist is revealed. Up to this point, the fantasy has been coherent, unbroken, and extremely realistic. In the paragraph before this one, it begins to make the transition toward the delusive; his mind begins to note flaws in the construct of the dream, "Overhead... shone great golden stars looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange constellations."
As his life draws to a close, his mind begins to skip over the less eventful parts of the dream, "Now he sees another scene - perhaps he has merely recovered from a delirium" As opposed to the photo realistic realism of the rest of the story, Peyton's longing gives a rosy too good to be true tint to his reunion with his wife, and she is portrayed in a romantic, idealized style. The description of the setting is focused more on the mood than details, as the dream comes to an end and a stark reality to compare it to draws closer.
In this section of the book, Ambrose Bierce does such a good job mkaing you belive that his dream is really true; even though like you said, Peyton's longing gives to rosy of a pitcutre to be true.
ReplyDeleteThis story had a really good ending. I admit I'm not a good flaw finder. For Instance, I would read the part with stars in unfamiliar consolations and say "that's nice" and move on. I had at first thought that his reunion with his wife was exaggerated by the author just to give the story a happy ending, but the last sentence was more satisfying then a stupid hug from his wife could ever have been! :)
ReplyDeleteA captivating analysis, but I though a bit differently on one point. The fantasy of his dreams have not been entirely coherent. Though they have been quite realistic of themselves, the transitions between dream sections were abrupt enough to not seem entirely real.
ReplyDeleteoverall i pretty much agree with your analysis of the story. I never really thought about some of those flaws you pointed out in the dream.
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