Trans-i-tion ....

The transition between the second and third to last paragraphs in the first section, is among my favorite. I liked the redundancy, which I think served as a way of waking the reader up, to sure they were paying attention. I think the repetition also serves as a way of really high lighting the action of 'closing' and 'unclosing' his eyes. I believe that repeating the introduction in the two paragraphs made the closing of that section, fluid and powerful, while dually moving across time chronologically. Both paragraphs lead to ideas about thoughts, which I believe is a good segway, becuase often thoughts eyes can reveal someones thoughts, if not allude to them.


The next transition I enjoyed came in the third section. It too illustrates redundancy, ending with '...No; I will not be shot: that is not fair.' and beginning with 'He was not conscious of an effort...'. I think that I am drawn to this transition because it shows the differences in meaning of the two different 'not's'. I believe the play on words here is very creative and forces the mind to really think about what is going on in the story. I also enjoy how it goes from his thoughts to a description of the man. Here Bierce uses the repetition to switch points of view without the reader being consciously aware that the switch is being made, and without and abrupt change in the tone or feeling of the writing.


The last transition that I thought was very effective as also in the third section. I liked the section that ended with "There was something uncanny in the revelation." That then started with "By nightfall he was fatigued..." I think the use of the word revelation was great, because it sets the scene for a change to happen. The transition does not blatantly say that it changes from day to night, rather instead speaks of nightfall, which is prefaced and by the revelation. I also think that meaning of revelation insinuates large amounts of change which is also discussed in the paragraph immediately proceeding. By implementing smooth transitions, Bierce is able to both keep the readers interest, and maintain a great tone and fluidity in his writing that I believe many others lack. I think I like his redundancies the best.