Examine how suspense and tension are created in The Stolen Bacillus & The Adventure of the Speckled Band.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Examine how suspense and tension are created in

The Stolen Bacillus & The Adventure of the Speckled Band.

Chris Turner

I read through two quite different short stories, continually considering how they both created suspense (anxious uncertainty, or expectation, or waiting for information) and tension (mental strain or excitement) and more importantly how I could compare the two, considering both similar and divergent parts in the stories.

The first short story I examined was 'The stolen Bacillus'. The title itself creates suspense, because of the word stolen. When something is stolen, you always expect a chase or investigation into finding the stolen item, and the word Bacillus - (a single bacterium) this would prompt the reader to think of the stereotypical idea of bacteria- tiny green creatures that appear in films and cartoons. Therefore from the title, the reader is urged to read on and find out why it has been stolen, who has taken it and if it is going to be recovered.

In the opening paragraphs of the story, a 'pale-faced' man is inside the office of the bacteriologist. Wells refers to this man as 'the visitor', confirming that