How Does Joyce Carol Oates Create Suspense In The Monkey Paw

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In the two stories “The monkey paw” by W.W. Jacobs and “Where are you going, Where have you been” by Joyce Carol Oates both use suspense to engage the reader more. Suspense is keeping the reader thinking about the mystery events that are taking place in the story. The lesson that is displayed in these two stories is how one bad actions can lead to punishment. “The monkey paw” and “Where are you going, Where have you been” are both good examples of suspense in horror because they both have unsolved mysteries in the stories that leads the reader guessing and also include the actions of the characters that show why one can view punishment as a lesson in the story. In the article “Let it go!” by Judith Sills it says that “ past hurts and old injustices have a way of keeping us stuck in our tracks, unable to move forward or experience joy. It can take a radical reboot to get past yesterday. Here how… It’s the shadow cast by the pain in your past—the parent who wasn’t there, the ex who betrayed , the boss who humiliated you or perhaps you’re stuck in place by the unhappy residue of your own bad choices”. This all ties into the theme because at the end of the story “Where are you going, Where have you been” nobody really knows what happen to Connie the main character at the end. But because of …show more content…

In the story “Where are you going, Where have you been?” by Joyce Carol Oats and “The monkey paw,” by W.W, Jacobs are both good examples of suspense in horror because they both have unsolved mysteries in the stories that leads the reader guessing and also include the actions of characters that show why one can view punishment as a lesson in the story. One can learn from these two stories that bad actions can lead to punishment. So next time it time for one to decide which way to go, which one will it