We absolutely require the information at the beginning of the story to understand what has happened to Peyton Farquhar at the end of the story. In the final lines, his neck is snapped by the noose with which he is hanged, and his body swings from the rope beneath the titular bridge. The first part of the story introduces us to Farquhar's immediate circumstances: that his hands are tied behind his back and that a...
We absolutely require the information at the beginning of the story to understand what has happened to Peyton Farquhar at the end of the story. In the final lines, his neck is snapped by the noose with which he is hanged, and his body swings from the rope beneath the titular bridge. The first part of the story introduces us to Farquhar's immediate circumstances: that his hands are tied behind his back and that a rope is wrapped around his neck. We learn in Part I that this man is being hanged, the location of the execution, as well as the thoughts he attempts to focus on as he awaits the fatal drop. As he tries to think of his wife and family, time seems to slow down. The intervals between the ticking of the second hand on his watch get longer and longer, and the last line of the section indicates that Farquhar has begun to fall: "The sergeant stepped aside." Therefore, the board which was supporting Farquhar can no longer support him because there is no weight on the other end. This helps us to understand, later, that the entirety of Part III was occurring in Farquhar's head and not in reality.
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