Consciousness of a Dream
...the reader would believe it. He then purposely throws in a twist with the second line, saying Peyton was now awakened and feeling the pain of the rope suffocating him. From a reader’s perspective, Peyton is actually alive, fighting for his life, but there are two keys words that Bierce uses to hint to the reader that this is actually a dream, “ages later.” These two words along with the hyphen present a clear and discrete image. They describe the beginning of a dream, where everything seems out of place at first, but become very real and clear to the dreamer. Often times in a dream, a person believes themselves to be able to achieve a task they wouldn’t be able to do in their everyday life. “What splendid effort!-what magnificent, what superhuman strength! Ah, that was a fine endeavor! Bravo!” (1482) Peyton is now under water after falling from the bridge, and struggling to get the ropes off his wrist. He suddenly attains this “superhuman strength” to help free himself. Bierce purposely uses these words to hint this is actually a dream. Along with that, he uses very eccentric words such as “fine endeavor and bravo.” If a man was drowning in real life, he wouldn’t be saying to himself, “what superhuman strength! Ah, that was a fine endeavor! Bravo!” He wouldn’t be congratulating himself on his achievement of getting free from the ropes. This would be the last thing on his mind. The final paragraph of chapter three is the final hint of the reality this is a dream and not real life. “Ah, how beautiful she is! He springs forward with extended arms. 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!” (1485) In the paragraph, Peyton finally reaches his home and sees his beautiful wife. Bierce is still throwing in a twist to make the dream seem like actually life to the reader. The lines where Peyton sees a blinding white light, the sound of a can...