Genre
Short story, historical fiction
Setting and Context
The events in the story take place in Alabama during the Civil War.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narration with interfering first-person narration.
Tone and Mood
In the story prevails an optimistic, heroic tone, sometimes sorrowful but still full of hope.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonists of the story is Peyton Farquhar, a slave owner who was sentenced to death by hanging; the antagonists are soldiers of the Federal army, his executioners.
Major Conflict
The major conflict resides in the contradiction between anti-slavery movements on the North and slavery traditions on the South.
Climax
The climax happens when the protagonist falls into the river (at this moment he dies and everything that comes after this is just his illusion, which happened in a millisecond of his falling down).
Foreshadowing
N/A
Understatement
In the story, the role of money and power is understated.
Allusions
The story alludes to historical events during the period of the Civil War.
Imagery
N/A
Paradox
N/A
Parallelism
The story has parallels with social stereotypes, prejudices, and other social movements and ideas relevant to its historical time.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The author uses metonymy and synecdoche to reinforce the importance of the utterance in its social context: “Contraband of war”, “the position known as “support””.
Personification
The author uses personification for nature descriptions: “The other bank of the stream was open ground—a gentle slope topped with a stockade of vertical tree trunks, loopholed for rifles”.
