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Farquhar’s Wife
Farquhar has been captured by Union soldiers, defined more as a group than by any individual. Though led by a captain who commands the others and presented with specific terms here and there (a sniper with “grey eyes,” for example, or the “dusty” spy who arrives at Farquhar’s doorstep in a Confederate uniform), they remain anonymous and interchangeable, serving as easy stand-ins for the army advancing relentlessly through Southern territory. Bierce is careful to emphasize their precision, their military discipline, and their adherence to soldierly duties as they prepare to hang Farquhar. He describes them in silent, featureless terms—“The sentinels, facing the banks of the stream, might have been statues to adorn the bridge”—and they move with swift, emotionless efficiency. This stands in opposition to Farquhar’s desperate, emotional yearning, which draws a quiet distinction between their side and his. They represent industrial efficiency, they have greater numbers, and they’re concerned with doing everything according to protocol. Farquhar is outnumbered and wedded to romantic notions about his family. The soldiers’ character traits help Farquhar’s stand out all the more prominently, not despite their anonymous and interchangeable nature but because of it.
Union Soldiers Quotes in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
The An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge quotes below are all either spoken by Union Soldiers or refer to Union Soldiers. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Quotes
A lieutenant stood at the right of the line, the point of his sword upon the ground, his left hand resting upon his right. Excepting the group of four at the center of the bridge, not a man moved.
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Evidently this was no vulgar assassin. The liberal military code makes provision for hanging many kinds of persons, and gentlemen are not excluded.
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“My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance.”
As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man's brain rather than evolved from it, the captain nodded to the sergeant.
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Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own white hands.
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He observed that it was a gray eye and remembered having read that gray eyes were keenest, in that all famous marksmen had them. Nevertheless, this one had missed.
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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!
Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.
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Union Soldiers Quotes in An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
The An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge quotes below are all either spoken by Union Soldiers or refer to Union Soldiers. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Quotes
A lieutenant stood at the right of the line, the point of his sword upon the ground, his left hand resting upon his right. Excepting the group of four at the center of the bridge, not a man moved.
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Evidently this was no vulgar assassin. The liberal military code makes provision for hanging many kinds of persons, and gentlemen are not excluded.
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Explanation and Analysis:
“My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance.”
As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man's brain rather than evolved from it, the captain nodded to the sergeant.
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Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own white hands.
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He observed that it was a gray eye and remembered having read that gray eyes were keenest, in that all famous marksmen had them. Nevertheless, this one had missed.
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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!
Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.
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