Question

Why do you think Bierce, a former Union soldier, chose to tell his story from the point of view of a Confederate supporter?

Answer 1

Bierce chose to tell his story from the point of view of a Confederate supporter because he wanted to highlight the flaws of a romantic perception of life. Bierce’s protagonist, Peyton Farquhar, was a Confederate sympathizer and a romantic. In the third section, as it is written from Peyton’s perspective, Bierce chose to write as a romantic would. The reader feels the thrill of Farquhar’s escape, only to later be deceived by the author as he returns to realism and ends the story abruptly with Farquhar’s execution, thus showing the reality and lack of emotion present in war.

Answer 2

It was basically a criticism of romanticism. The hero is a helpless romantic who sees something noble and romantic about the war and the confederacy even though in reality the confederacy were a bunch of racist slave owners. This is done to show how the romantic mindset can alter what's really going on and he was a realist and wanted to show that it was a bad thing.