McEwan intentionally places certain phrases throughout the opening that capture the reader that makes them continue reading. The first example is, “The beginning is simple to mark,” which is short and basic, and allows the reader to imagine what is going to happen next. The reader is curious to find out how the rest of the story is going to develop after the gripping first chapter. A second example is, “…we heard a man’s shout…and saw the danger. Next thing, I was running towards it,” and “…- the event I am about to describe, the fall-…” These are good lines for creating suspense in the opening chapters as the reader is not sure what the dangers are and what he is running to, this encourages the reader to read on to find out what actually happens, which we don’t actually don’t find out until the end of the opening chapter.
The major reason that this opening is effective because of the amount of suspense contained in it. The author is really detailed in setting the scene, such as, “We were in the sunlight under a turkey oak, partly protected from a strong, gusty wind.” The amount of detail makes it easy for the reader to imagine the environment and the surroundings.
The use of details and saying that “this was the pinprick on the time map,” builds up tension and it shows that something huge is about to happen and McEwan is holding the details back and not telling us what is about to come. The technique that McEwan uses is to slowly give details of the events that are about to unfold. Some examples of this are the boy, the fall, and the balloon, but still he doesn’t let us know fully what is happening or how these tie together; he keeps the details of the story hidden. He then introduces the characters but the reader is still unaware of how all the characters will unfold and how they link together.
The technique or style of writing that McEwan uses in this opening obviously has an effect on how a reader reacts to the book because it is how he gets the story and points across to a reader, but the way he does it is important to. As before, the details are an example of this, but also the dramatic words such as “enormity,” “colossus,” “knowable, limited,” and “barrier of time,” build up curiosity and interest that allows the reader to make some assumptions. Some conclusions that could be made from these words alone are that this event is one that Joe had to react to, but didn’t have much choice in how to deal with it because time was short and there was a limit to how much he could do to help the boy and man, and that the event huge one in itself but also has a large affect on the future and what is to come after the event has occurred and gone. Another way that the author
One of the biggest sub plots in the story is the stalking of Joe by Jed. Jed is clearly obsessed with Joe and this is made clear in the opening stages of the novel. It is effective the way the story line has been dripped in supposedly with out the reader knowing, with trying to get Joe to pray with him when they go to find logans body, the telephone calls to Joes house, the library incident when Joe is sure that he can see Jed’s shoe as he runs out of the door.
