The reader is pulled up short by the adverb ‘suddenly’; we become aware that the ‘road’ represents man’s intrusion into nature; it is a turning point in the story. Here, Brower meets a strange figure; ‘there before him saw, indistinctly the figure of a man, in the gloom’ which, because of the description Bierce uses, makes it hard for the reader to picture him- suggesting that the figure is less than a real person. The narrator says that “the two stood there like trees,” which is ironic as they are the complete opposite; they are not things which blend in with the forest, such as trees, they stand out as they do not belong there. This also suggests that the figure is more a part of nature than Brower as it is ‘indistinct’- it blends in with the trees rather than standing out. We know that the stranger is possibly not human as Bierce writes “The emotions of the other are not recorded” so he is acting inhumanly as humans show their emotions through actions and expressions. The figure could be a spirit conjured up by the forest to get rid of this human villain. This is hinted at when Bierce writes ‘the moon sailed into a patch of unclouded sky and the hunted man saw the visible embodiment of law’ which shows that nature seems to chose, and have control over, when the figure should be revealed suggesting that nature itself conjured up the figure. The figure points Orrin back in the direction of the prison. In response to this, the author writes that “he understood,” showing us that Brower knew as a human he should return to human society and accept human justice. Nevertheless, when Bierce writes “his head and back ached with a prophecy of buckshot,” it tells us that even though he is going back to human society and admitting he is a human, he still feels he is to be treated like an animal. Again nature seems to have power over Brower and the figure as we read ‘only once did Brower venture a turn of the head: just once, when he was in deep shadow and the other was in moonlight’ which indicates that nature spotlights what it wants Brower to see- the thing that will keep him going forward. The final sentence of the penultimate paragraph states ‘then he turned. Nobody else entered’ which shows that nature sent the figure as it stops outside the human /forest boundaries. Nature has done its part and driven the criminal back to justice- Brower must face it alone.
The other way to look at this tale is to view it as a tale concerned only with a vengeful superego. The man who has escaped from prison, Orrin Brower, has done some very bad things but does not show any signs of a guilty conscience. For example when he escaped by, “knocking down his jailer with an iron bar,” the writer does not tell us of any regrets he may have or if he feels guilty. But we do learn that, “the jailer being unarmed, Brower had no weapons with which to defend his recovered liberty,” so the only thing he cares about is escaping and staying alive. This hints that the guilt may be building up at the back of his head and may explode later on.
Brower’s desperation is shown when Bierce writes ‘his chance of escape was very slender; but he did not wish to assist in his own pursuit’ which also shows his determination to escape justice and hints that he may stop himself. We can tell that Brower may have some feelings of guilt when we read that ‘Brower nearly suffocated by the activity of his own heart’ which portray his fear of capture and excessive guilt. When the figure points back to the jail, Brower responds in an unexpected manner, “He understood. Turning his back to his captor, he walked submissively away in the direction indicated,” which shows that Brower realises his mistake and so,
feeling the guilt he had avoided before, does not try to run off but walks ‘submissively’ towards justice. When Bierce describes Brower as ‘looking neither to the right nor the left; hardly daring to breathe’ it shows that guilt and fear have overtaken him making him a servant of the embodiment of law.
We begin to doubt the animal-like image we have attached to Brower when the narrator tells us that he ‘calmly killed’ his brother-in-law and his ‘calmness’ in the trial. These attributes suggest that he is more human than animal as he is calm under pressure, which means that he may have more guilt inside than we may have suspected. The narrator informs us that ‘when a brave man is beaten, he submits’ which implies that Brower has given up mentally- defeat has come from within. The identity of the strange figure is revealed, “His captor was Burton Duff, the jailer as white as death and bearing upon his brow the livid mark of the iron bar” which suggests, by the detail Bierce includes, that Brower’s conscience has conjured this image of his own actions to return him to justice. Also the word ‘livid’ is highly emotive and hints at the guilt Brower must be feeling. Brower’s guilt is also shown when Bierce includes the words ‘only the women and children remained, and they were off the streets’ which suggest that he realises how unwanted he is; how his actions have affected others. Also the fact that Bierce includes such minor details hints that the writer wants to suggest that Brower’s conscience is making him aware of this to keep him going towards justice. The repetition of ‘straight’ in the final paragraph shows that Brower is going to stability and justice- it also suggests that Brower has a desire to go back to human society- a desire driven by his conscience. As Brower enters the prison he sees, “the dead body of Burton Duff,” so you can conclude that the figure following him to the prison was not human at all.
As I mentioned earlier Brower has committed some serious crimes which are the result of the id part of his brain taking over. The id is the part of our brain which wants all our basic needs- our Inner Desires- such as sleep, food and sex. However our superego stops us from becoming lazy, greedy or rapists. What happened to Brower is that his id took over and his superego was shunned so he committed these crimes without any guilt. At the clearing in the forest, Brower’s superego suddenly starts operating again and conjures up the image to make the guilty conscience, which comes with it, disappear by sending him back to justice. Bierce seems to have dropped many hints to leave both views arguably correct. Personally, I think Bierce has done this deliberately to leave the story as ambiguous as the title.