In many short stories there are themes, tones, and main ideas formed as suspense is evoked to the readers. In Roald Dahl’s short story “The Landlady,” a young man named Billy Weaver was in search of a inexpensive place to live. He stumbles upon a bed and breakfast that is fairly cheap, but the landlady he encountered was a little out of the ordinary. After a series of events demonstrating the landlady’s peculiarity, the readers have warranted suspicion of Billy Weaver’s death. In Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator liked the old man, but hated the man’s eye, leading to his desire to kill the old man. The narrator waited seven nights to kill the man, but could not kill him until his eye was open. On the eighth night,
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Dahl crafts an eerie comment from “The Landlady” when he writes, “‘Seventeen. What a perfect age. Mr. Mulholland was also seventeen.’” Through the use of the past tense, the reader can comprehend that Mr. Mulholland is no longer alive. This creates suspense for the reader because a mysterious tone is built into the story. In addition, in “The Landlady” it states, “‘That's good. Because later on, if I happen to forget what you were called, then I can always come down here and look it up.’” By using past tense in the phrase, “if I happen to forget what you were called,” the reader can comprehend that the landlady is referring to Mr. Weaver like he is dead. The utilization of the past tense creates anxiety by creating a mysterious tone to the story and causing the story to be unpredictable to the reader. In Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” he uses phrases such as “groan of mortal terror” and “dreadful echo” to bring out the fear in the story. By bringing out the fear and terror from the story, suspense is formed. Additionally, in Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” it states, "So I opened it -- you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily -- until, at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of a spider, shot from out the crevice and full upon the vulture eye." Will he get caught? Will the old man wake up? …show more content…
In Dahl’s short story “The Landlady,” the landlady told Billy that Mr. Mulholland and Mr. Temple were still in the bed and breakfast, but then refers to them in the past tense by stating, “Mr. Mulholland was also seventeen… Mr. Temple, of course, was a little older.” This foreshadows Billy’s danger, but Billy does not quite know about it yet. This then creates suspense because Billy does not know what is going to happen, which makes the reader wonder what is going to happen to Billy. In Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe writes, “He was still sitting up in the bed listening;--just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.” This foreshadows the death of the old man, but the reader does not know how it is going to happen, which is how suspense is being formed for the reader. Both writers, in a way, creates suspense using similar
Dahl crafts an eerie comment from “The Landlady” when he writes, “‘Seventeen. What a perfect age. Mr. Mulholland was also seventeen.’” Through the use of the past tense, the reader can comprehend that Mr. Mulholland is no longer alive. This creates suspense for the reader because a mysterious tone is built into the story. In addition, in “The Landlady” it states, “‘That's good. Because later on, if I happen to forget what you were called, then I can always come down here and look it up.’” By using past tense in the phrase, “if I happen to forget what you were called,” the reader can comprehend that the landlady is referring to Mr. Weaver like he is dead. The utilization of the past tense creates anxiety by creating a mysterious tone to the story and causing the story to be unpredictable to the reader. In Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” he uses phrases such as “groan of mortal terror” and “dreadful echo” to bring out the fear in the story. By bringing out the fear and terror from the story, suspense is formed. Additionally, in Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” it states, "So I opened it -- you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily -- until, at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of a spider, shot from out the crevice and full upon the vulture eye." Will he get caught? Will the old man wake up? …show more content…
In Dahl’s short story “The Landlady,” the landlady told Billy that Mr. Mulholland and Mr. Temple were still in the bed and breakfast, but then refers to them in the past tense by stating, “Mr. Mulholland was also seventeen… Mr. Temple, of course, was a little older.” This foreshadows Billy’s danger, but Billy does not quite know about it yet. This then creates suspense because Billy does not know what is going to happen, which makes the reader wonder what is going to happen to Billy. In Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe writes, “He was still sitting up in the bed listening;--just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.” This foreshadows the death of the old man, but the reader does not know how it is going to happen, which is how suspense is being formed for the reader. Both writers, in a way, creates suspense using similar