Compare and contrast the ways in which the authors set out to create a sense of fear and tension in their readers - Which of the stories is the most effective and why?

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Aanchal Clare

10M1

Compare and contrast the ways in which the authors set out to create a sense of fear and tension in their readers. Which of the stories is the most effective and why?

  In this essay, the two stories that I will be comparing are: ‘The Whole Town’s Sleeping’ which was written by Ray Bradbury and ‘A Terribly Strange Bed’ written by Wilkie Collins. Although written in different periods (one in the 19th Century and the other in the 20th Century) both writers succeed in playing on the readers’ fears and therefore both producing good quality thriller stories. I will be analysing which techniques in each story create the right atmosphere and overall which story is more effective.

  Tension is shown clearly throughout the structures of both stories, however the writers use different techniques to create suspense in their writing. In ‘The Whole Town’s Sleeping’ the writer tends to use a lot of false plateaus which changes the pattern of the structure and therefore the tension in the story tends to rise and fall which may leave the reader somewhat ‘wary’ of what is going to happen next. An example of this is when Lavina and the rest of the girls are walking and they see a shadow of someone in front of them. “Got you!’ The man jumped from behind a tree”. We later find out that the man was their friend, Tom Dillon playing a joke on them. The effect of having these false plateaus in the story is that it leaves the reader insecure in some way and they are left to feel somewhat uneasy throughout the rest of the story. However it keeps the reader on the edge of their seat and wanting to read more because they want to know what happens next. In contrast, Wilkie Collins uses a different method of creating tension and suspense, nevertheless it is equally effective. In ‘A Terribly Strange Bed’ we can see that the writer has chosen to gradually build up tension rather than continuously playing on the readers fears. An example of how he does this in the story is when Faulkner is in his bed and the bed-top is being lowered.

“Down and down, without pausing and without sounding, came the bed top…till the dusty odour from the lining of the canopy came stealing into my nostrils.”

  The way Collins manages to create this sense of tension and suspense is by using emotive and descriptive words. This helps the reader visualise the story and secondly it helps create a bit more tension as well. The effect of having a gradual build up to the story is that it gets the reader ‘involved’ in the story and furthermore, like with the other story, it keeps you wanting to read more.

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  The setting in both stories plays a big role in building up the atmosphere for the story and it also helps create a sense of fear and tension for the reader. In ‘The Whole Town’s Sleeping’ the writer has chosen to set the story in a ravine. The use of this setting has connotations of danger, isolation and death. From this only the readers can tell that something bad is going to happen because the story is set in a dangerous place. By using this setting it instantly plays on the readers fears due to the fact that ...

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