At first when I began to read this story I really thought I would not be very interested in it, for it just appeared to be a short story about the hanging of one man. But after reading the story I changed my opinion. I really felt this story was very different to any other story that I have read and at the end most readers are surprised how it comes to a close. The …showed first 75 words of 1274 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1274 total…readers are surprised how it comes to a close. The author Ambrose Bierce uses a variety of different writing techniques including: foreshadowing and symbols in order to give the story a much deeper meaning then may exist on the surface. The reader is guided into thinking that the last few seconds of Peyton Farquhar's life appears to last for an indefinite period of time, but at the end his life comes to a sudden halt