Susan hill uses various techniques to create tension in the first few chapters. One of the most obvious ones is that she frequently refers to the weather in her story, which, like it usually does in gothic genre stories, reflects the mood of the main character at the time. This is shown at the beginning where the weather is described “We had had rain, thin, chilling rain and a mist that lay low above the house,” which implies that something should be happening soon. The weather at the start of the horror story is much worse, and it begins with an exaggerated, but surprisingly effective description of a London fog. “Fog was outdoors, hanging over the river, creeping in and out of alleyways and passages, swirling thickly between the bare trees of all the parks and gardens of the city,” this goes on with more dire and evil descriptions but basically sets the scene and like most genre gothic writing, it includes one of the key elements – which is the strong atmosphere. It also shows not so much the character’s mood, but how he has changed since these events occurred, and how different his personality has become. The description gives the reader a sense of isolation and the sibilance used makes the setting more eerie and makes it feel like as if the fog is moving towards you (the reader.) She basically builds up the tension by giving the fog human characteristics (personification) in this sentence ‘yellow fog, a filthy, evil-smelling fog.’
