How does John Buchan create suspense in the book "The Thirty-Nine Steps"?

Specialist Study: The Thirty Nine Steps

How does John Buchan create suspense in the book “The Thirty-Nine Steps”?

“The Thirty Nine Steps” by John Buchan is about a man who has to escape London to find the real criminals behind a political assassination. The author throughout the story uses many techniques to create suspense through using the main character Richard Hannay.

In the first chapter sets the scene by giving some background history of Hannay’s life before he gets a visit for Scudder. Buchan in the first few pages of the book is already creating the feeling of suspense when Hannay and Scudder meet outside Hannay’s flat. The line,

“Is the door locked? He asked feverishly.”

This gives me the image that Scudder is really nervous. I feel this creates the impression that something quite serious is going on and that the rest of the story is also going to be exciting. Buchan ends the chapter quite suddenly by finishing with,

“My guest was lying sprawled on his back. There was a long knife through his heart which skewered him to the floor”

I feel this ending made it very clear that the man who had confided in Hannay had been killed and left me wondering what was going to happen next in the story.

The second chapter deals more with the thoughts of Hannay, who is devising a plan to try and leave London. He does this by stealing the uniform of a milkman. Hannay way gives exact details of timing,

“six thirty passed, then six forty” and “At one minute after the quarter to seven”.

I feel that the exact details of timing keeps the reader involved in the story as it creates a much stronger feeling of suspense and what will happen next.

As Hannay sets out to travel to Scotland his decides he must disguise his voice so that he ...

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The second chapter deals more with the thoughts of Hannay, who is devising a plan to try and leave London. He does this by stealing the uniform of a milkman. Hannay way gives exact details of timing,

“six thirty passed, then six forty” and “At one minute after the quarter to seven”.

I feel that the exact details of timing keeps the reader involved in the story as it creates a much stronger feeling of suspense and what will happen next.

As Hannay sets out to travel to Scotland his decides he must disguise his voice so that he wont be caught out,

“in my broadest Scots”.

I feel this continues the deception of Hannay trying to hide from the Police and it also adds to the suspense that he may be caught out at any time and wont be able to stop the political assassination that is about to happen.

As Hannay is in a manhunt in Scotland is becoming scared,

“Crouching low in the tunnels of the bog, I ran till the sweat blinded my eyes”.

This shows that Hannay is now becoming scared and he could be found at any time.

Throughout the story Hannay fools the people he meets and causes suspense because I wonder if the people will believe his story.

“I pitched him a lovely yarn”

Hannay had been told lies by Scudder when been told about his situation.

“The little man told me a pack of lies”

I feel this created suspense because Hannay is now lost and if it wasn’t for Scudders notebook he would have to give himself in.

After Hannay is nearly caught by a policeman, I felt that he had no longer any who could help him, it was as if it was him against everyone.

“my friends at the inn had come to the understanding, and we were united in desiring to see more of me”.

Then follows an action packed section of the story. The plane that found him before finds Hannay and then he crashes the car and his nearly killed. This gave great suspense as I was faced with the idea that he might be killed at any time, and he would not be able to stop the political assassination that was about to happen.

When Hannay spots his enemies in the hills of Scotland he begins to think clearly. He thinks of the time he changed roles with the milkman when he was trying to leave London and thinks he must do the same now. He spots a road worker and swaps role with him.

“I’ll take on your job for a bit and see the surveyor”.

Here Hannay who was seconds away from death he still managed to think clearly which created suspense.

Hannay is starting to struggle with hiding from his pursuers.

“My lack of local knowledge might very well be my undoing”.

By showing that Hannay was struggling, I feel that Buchan is building the reader for an exciting ending, which then creates suspense.

After Hannay has found safety in the house of an old man he realises that he has made a big mistake. After being locked in a room that hid him from the men who where chasing him, he found himself held at gunpoint.

“I turned, and saw two men-servants who had me covered with pistols.”

I think this action packed section of the story has made the story far more exciting as I wondered if Hannay would be killed or would he escape and tell of the political assassination that is about to happen.

Hannay realised that he had to get away.

“I was doing an experiment as simple as Gut Fawkes’ fireworks.”

His small knowledge of explosives might just let him escape. In this part of the story great suspense was created here. I wondered would Hannay blow himself up or manage to escape.

After managing to escape he headed for a hideout. I feel at this stage in the story that Hannay might actually get free.

The final section of the story is action packed when he finds out where he will be able to meet the enemy and find out their plans for the political assassination.

“Thirty-nine steps-I counted them-High tide, 10.17pm”.

I was now very much interested as Buchan as built the story about this section. I also became interested in the story as I thought to myself Hannay might now save the day.

As Hannay begins to figure out what the thirty-nine steps are, I become more positive that he would save the day. I felt that there was a lot of suspense here so Buchan could give the ending a maximum impact. When Hannay burst in on the group of criminals he thought he had made a terrible mistake but he noticed that he had seen on of the men from when he was held at gunpoint.

“I had stood before him in the moor land farm, with pistols of his servants behind me”.

Everything had now fallen in to place and I knew Hannay would catch the group of criminals. Hannay and his troops chased them and caught them.

I feel that John Buchan has succeeded in creating suspense through use of the main character Richard Hannay. Which I thought made the story action packed and interesting.

Word Count: 1,084 words.