The use of third person objective to commence the short story is a useful way to draw the unsuspecting audience to identify with and feel sorrow for the man who is about to be executed. After the reader is drawn in, it is let out that members of the federal army are holding the protagonist and therefore it is assumed that the doomed man is a member of the Southern Army. If the story began with this, the reader would not be able to identify with the man about to be hung but with the story beginning the way it does, the reader hopes for his escape to freedom.
The first transition from third person objective to third person subjective occurs in the fourth paragraph where the reader is allowed to see what is going through the protagonist’s mind and further identify with him. However, as a result of viewing the world from his point of view, the reader loses subjectivity and full understanding of the real circumstances, which is utilized later in the story as it once again transitions, this time into first person.
The use of first person towards the end of the first section allows the author to toy with the reader and present the possibility of escape, which is imagined later on in the story. The reader feels ultimate sorrow for Farquhar as a result of being presented with his viewpoint of the immanent death and his small hope of escape.
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