“My friend Mr Sherlock Holmes”, Doyle’s use of informative writing ensures that the reader isn’t put off. Furthermore it ensures that the reader feels the story is real which makes the mystery more intense.
Tension is created in “The Ostler” through dramatic dialogue.
“Murder! Wake up there! For gods sake, wake up!” the use of the exclamation mark indicates the panic and volume whilst separating the sentence to make it convey the frantic feelings.
“Engineers Thumb” is based around the words of the narrator. Dr Watson narrates the story as the reader trusts him. By having a narrator who does this the story is instantly believable whilst building up mystery and tension. “The Ostler” doesn’t have this relationship as the narrator is at unease.
“What I have seen and heard has startled and shocked me, that I feel my heart beating fast, as I softly and quickly retrace my steps across the inn yard”. This gives the reader the impression that the narrator is fearful it therefore makes us feel uncomfortable and edgy. This also builds up tension as we are on the edge of our seats throughout the narrator’s speech.
Despite the stories being about two completely different things they both use the same punctuation. In “The Ostler” hyphens are used to break up the text.
“-she came closer and closer”. The hyphen makes the reader read slower whilst giving us a dramatic pause. This also occurs in “Engineers Thumb”
“-one answering the other” this enables the reader to have a time to reflect back on the events.
The writer’s use of punctuation in each story controls the pace of the reading. In “Engineers Thumb” the speech
“Quick, Quick!” speeds up the actions. We know this as the exclamation mark empathises the volume whilst the short sentence states the sharpness. Meanwhile “The Ostler” uses semi colons to slow the pace down.
“Devote to sleep;” the use of the semi colon breaks up the dialogue whilst giving us a short pause.
Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Engineers Thumb” creates suspense through the shortness of the sentences.
“An accident, I presume?
By no means.
What a murderous attack!
Very murderous indeed”. The quotation is very shocking as it builds tension through assumptions. The readers believe that the event was an accident but the change in heart makes us wonder what has really happened. The repetition of “murderous” and the shortness of the sentence empathises this.
Complex sentences are very descriptive and build up suspense. They are used manly in “Engineers Thumb” as we are given very descriptive accounts.
“Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very much astonished, as you both think, as this sudden commission which had been entrusted to me”. The complex sentence adds tension as it makes the event sound like a list enforcing the nervousness.
Each story’s plots have sudden bursts of tension.
“The Ostler” is very edgy at the beginning as we learn that The Ostler is talking in his sleep.
“Wake up!” The Ostler’s actions make the reader anxious as we want to know what is bothering him so much. The middle informs the reader about the mothers dream. 7 years later to that day The Ostler meets a woman and agrees to marry her much to the despair of the mother as she makes the connection with the woman in her dream. The dream is tenser as there is know tension up until that moment, by doing this the writer empathises the dream making it an important part of the story.
The ending is a cliff-hanger as we are left shocked when Rebecca vanishes and confused as we don’t know her whereabouts.
“The pick-lock on the bedroom floor remained the last useless trace of her”. From this we are able to draw our own conclusions as to what has happened to Rebecca.
By ending the story on a cliff-hanger the writer allows the reader to continue the story in their minds as we’re not given any clues to her whereabouts.
Cliff-hangers build up suspense as a picture is immediately created in our mind which makes us want more.
“Engineers Thumb” however is less tense. The beginning informs the reader instead of getting them involved in the storylines. By making the reader image that they’re actually in the story, the story becomes more lifelike. The start does build up to the revelation of the mystery though but doesn’t give any clues away. The middle is a contrast to the beginning as the mystery is revealed. The narrator switches to the past tense as it allows the reader to image that the event has happened to them.
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The mystery becomes believable as The Engineer tells his story rationally. His statements are lengthened in order for us to wonder what the mystery could be and what could be so unusual.
The ending is an anti-climax as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson have solved the mystery and everything makes sense.
Both writers have successfully achieved their purpose as the reader is left tense and nervous throughout each story. We are also able to get involved in the story as the narrator is directly talking to us.
“I won’t occasion you that trouble”. This allows us to go through all the feelings the characters do.
All in all “The Ostler” is more gripping as it has a higher tension level throughout the story. The beginning grips the reader whilst the ending leaves us shocked. I think this as I asked many questions like what has happened to Rebecca. And what will happen in 7 years if faint is repeated? Throughout the story I felt attached to the characters and when the story ending I wanted to know more.
However “Engineers Thumb” didn’t appeal to me as the storyline was easy to figure out. This meant I wasn’t shocked as I knew what would happen next.
Although I liked “The Ostler” it also isn’t relevant as superstitions are no longer believable.
I thoroughly enjoyed the stories as they were different from the story’s that are around today. By reading the story’s it allowed me to experience what people found interesting 200 years ago. The story’s also made me realise just how many differences they really are between story’s written in the 1800’s and story’s in the 21st century.
If I had the chance to read one of the stories again I would read “The Ostler” as it is more breathtaking and appealed to me more than “Engineers Thumb”.
Shaun Meddings
