Fear And Imagery In Susan Hill's Woman In Black

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Susan Hill’s Woman in Black is about Arthur Kipps, a lawyer in London, who has been given the task of filing the papers of the dead Mrs. Drablow. While on his journey and at Eel Marsh House he experiences some interesting and eerie happenings. In Chapter 10; “Whistle and I’ll Come to You” Hill uses a variety of literary techniques to create an atmosphere of fear and foreboding. Hill uses sensory imagery to create fear and foreboding. In Chapter 10, Hill uses sound imagery multiple times especially with the sounds of wind. For example, when Kipps is staying in one of the main bedrooms he can hear the “windows rattling” and when he wakes up in the early hours the wind “had greatly increased in force.” This gives a feeling up increasing chaos and loss of control in the scene, with the chaos escalating rather than calming down. Kipps can also feel and hear the rapid winds racing through the house as the “wind flows through the desolate house” and the wind was flying into “every nook and cranny”. This imagery creates the feeling that nowhere in the house is safe from this storm. …show more content…

“The house felt like a ship at sea, battered by the gale”is one early in the chapter, as well as the house “had stood here, steady as a lighthouse, quite alone and exposed…” reinforces the feeling of isolation. Later in the chapter, Kipps says he is hearing the “wind rage like a lion, howling at the doors and beating upon the windows…”gives an animal quality to the wind as does “the wind boomed and roared without...”on page