Question

What clues suggest Farquhar may not be totally reliable as a witness?

Answer 1

Answer:

Fahrquhar's fantasy and imaginative narration implies that he may not be trusted as a reliable witness.

Explanation:

'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' is a short story written by Ambrose Bierce. The story is about a man named Peyton Fahrquhar, who is hanged in the story and also narrates the events that caused this hanging.

Peyton Fahrquhar is a middle-aged man of about thirty-five years of age. He desires to be a part of Confederate Army and support the cause of Southerners. In Part III, after Fahquhar was hanged, he fanstasize himself to be free from ropes on his hands and neck and marvelously escaped from Federal's hanging. By the difference between the Third-person narrator's description and Fahrquhar's witness of his escape dictates that Fahrquhar was fantasizing his escape but in reality he is dead.

'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. He must have traveled the entire night.'

The last statement of the story also verifies that Fahrquhar's witnessing is unreliable:

'Peyton Fahrquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck,  swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl  Creek bridge.'

When Fahrquhar was imagining his escape, he was hung on the Owl Creek Bridge.