The author’s use of foreshadowing contributed to the overall impact of the story by

helping the reader realize that he was hallucinating. In the story, there are many instances where

the author confuses you with the details making the story seem unrealistic, such as “The man in

the water saw the eye of the man on the bridge gazing into his own through the sights of the rifle.

He observed that it was a gray eye and remembered having read that gray eyes were keenest, and

that all famous marksmen had them.”. By that point in the text Peyton Farquhar was over 100

yards downstream and there was no possible way he could have seen the eye or the color. The

use of foreshadowing by the author contributed to the story by helping the reader understand that

something was wrong before he stops hallucinating and is hanged.