Ead the excerpt from "an occurrence at owl creek bridge." he unclosed his eyes and saw again the water below him. “if i could free my hands,” he thought, “i might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. by diving i could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home. my home, god, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader’s farthest advance.” what theme does the motif of hands represent in the excerpt and throughout the story? hands represent the indistinct line between dreams and reality. hands represent the perpetual struggle against fate. hands represent the idea of justice. hands represent the importance of love and family.

In a 10-12 sentence response-style paragraph, explore the degree to which you agree or disagree with faulkner’s message. “i believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. he is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. the poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. it is his privilege to man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. the poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to him endure and prevail” (faulkner 773-775).