Ray Bradbury uses recreation to create interest to the story “In the downtown drugstore, fans whispered in the high ceiling air” He also use metaphors and similes such as “There were two moons: a clock moon with four faces” while 'A Terribly Strange Bed' doesn’t have any recreation, metaphors or similes in its opening but still manages to maintain interest.
Mood and tone are very important in both stories. Using certain adjectives, like “warm summer night”, “deep far away”, “kept to itself, scorched”, “solemn black courthouse”, “dark east” and “invisible people”, creates this mood and tone in ‘The Whole Town’s Sleeping’. 'A Terribly Strange Bed', however is different, as the author seems to create a different mood and tone in the openings to the story. He uses words like “rather a wild life”, “delightful city of our sojourn”, “idling about”, “and splendid city”. In 'A Terribly Strange Bed' the city in which the story is set, is praised in the story, although not really mentioned much “delightful city of our sojourn” it doesn’t seem to play a large part in the story and doesn’t seem to be anything special. However in 'The Whole Town's sleeping', quite the opposite is the case, the first two paragraphs (half the page) are all about the setting and this is very important to the mood and tone of the story without it, you might not believe that a madman could run around killing people for months without being caught.
Tension and Suspense are also very important in both stories. Tension is built up a little at the beginning of 'The Whole Town's sleeping’, before the women find the body and its unexpected. The main excitement of the story is at the end, when Lavinia is running through the ravine. The tension is build up using sentences that get shorter and shorter, so that you read them faster and faster until the last sentences are only a couple of words long and the reader is getting really excited. Then when Lavinia reaches the house and locks the door, the reader feels the relief that the character is feeling. I think this part of the story is very good, how it makes the reader think that the worst is over, but then Lavinia hears the man clear his throat, the reader holds their breath, and wants to know what happens, but can only do so using their own imagination. 'A Terribly Strange Bed' also uses a build up to a big fear climax, but not to the same extent as 'The Whole Town's Sleeping' does. The excitement of the gambling, the strangeness of the drinks afterwards and the anti-climax of the end of the night, just as the reader calms down from reading about everything that has happened, the final shock starts to set in as it does with the narrator, at first it seems strange and nonsensical, but then as the narrator describes his thoughts, you feel like he did, you feel scared, but still compelled to read the end of the story. After the narrator frees himself of the horrible bed, the terror isn’t over yet, he still had to escape, at this point, the tension is high, but it doesn't reach such a dramatic climax as in 'The Whole Town's Sleeping', it is a more slow and painful story, like the actual subject of the story, a suffocating bed. When the narrator reaches the police station, the suspense is relieved, and in thins story, you read about the aftermath of the event, unlike the other two stories where you don’t know what happens next. In Collins’ story, you are told what happens next, and you finish the story quite pleased, like the narrator would be, instead of still scared like you are in the other story.
Both stories are similar and different; the authors use different methods to make the reader scared. The stories have some similarities and others have differences. Ray Bradbury describes the scenery whereas Wilkie Collins describes the characters. Setting seems to be more important in 'The Whole Town's Sleeping' than it is in Collins’ story and tension and suspense is used very differently in the both stories, Bradbury uses a sharp shock and then a steady buildup, then a false relief before a final cliffhanger and Collins uses a strange buildup to what seems like somewhat of an anti-climax and then re establishes the tension, for a gentle relief and a settled ending.
