The Ticking Watch Symbol Analysis

As Farquhar awaits his execution, he begins to hear “a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil,” which heightens his anxiety and draws out the moments before his death. It turns out to be the ticking of his own watch. Watches are often potent symbols of time in literature, and this one seems to emphasize how little time Farquhar has left. “Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell,” Bierce writes, a direct link between the ticking watch and the imminent execution. Each moment of time is made clear and precise in light of Farquhar’s awareness that his time is coming to an end.

On another level, the ticking watch signifies a kind of foreshadowing. When Farquhar believes he has escaped the noose, his senses become “preternaturally keen and alert.” He sees tiny details and hears the smallest sounds as if magnified, much as he heard the distinct hammering of his own watch. The ticking watch sets the reader up for this shift in the protagonist’s senses, as both suggest a certain change in perception in the moments before death. The ticking watch, in turn, makes it easier for Bierce to segue into the surreal near-dream of Farquhar’s escape and flight.