Rhetorical Analysis Of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night

In the excerpt from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, rhetorical devices such as appeal to pathos, imagery, and simile helped create suspense when Christopher had found out about his undead mother. By creating suspense, it gives the reader a certain feeling of wanting to read more to figure out what would happen next. The author appeals to pathos by announcing Christopher’s undead mother. As Christopher had said, “Mother had not had a heart attack. Mother had not died. Mother had been alive all the time. And father had lied about this” (page 112). This created suspense from radiating tension. It leaves the readers feeling uneasy and gives an urgency to read on. It also gives the reader a sense of frustration because of his

For example, when his father was talking to him, he described the voice as “tiny and far away, like people’s voices sometimes when [he is] groaning… Then [he] could hear that [his dad] was crying because his breath sounded all bubbly and wet, like it does when someone has a cold and they have lots of snots in their nose” (page 113-114). He compared how he heard his father to a routine he is used to when he calm’s himself. And when he described the voice, he compared it to someone having a cold. He does that because it’s easier for him to distinguish it and it builds up to what his dad is going to do and/or say. Finally, he uses simile when describing his father’s touch. “I could hardly feel his hand at all. It was just like the wind blowing against me” (page 114). This shows the state he is at, how numb he is from all that he’s learn, and he doesn’t know how to cope. This built more suspense because we didn’t know at what time he was going to regain his senses and what the outcome would have been. In sum, these rhetorical devices built suspense in the discovery of Christopher’s mother being alive. They helped exemplify his feelings and his actions. Also, they add on more effect as the reader continues the story to figure out what would happen