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Why Authors Create Suspense In Literature

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Why do authors create suspense in literature? Authors create suspense to make the audience feel on the edge of their seats and to make the audience want to continue reading the story. Suspense is a literary device that makes the audience anticipate the climax or resolution of a story and feel tension and excitement. "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe, and "The Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury utilize suspense in three forms, conflict, irony, and foreshadowing. Authors create suspemse through conflict, irony, and foreshadowing to make the audience anticipate the climax or resolution. In Richard Connell's short story, "The Most Dangerous Game," conflict is used to make suspense. Rainsford, …show more content…

The protagonist, Montresor, plans to seek revenge on Fortunato, who insulted him, by killing him. Poe uses dramatic irony in the first paragraph by writing that Montresor is planning to kill Fortunato and get away with murdering him. Dramatic irony creates suspense, due to only the reader and Montresor knows that Montresor is premeditating Fortunado's murder. Verbal irony is utilized to create suspense when Poe writes of Montresor and Fortunado making toasts, and Montresor saying, "And I to your long life" to Fortunado (Poe 347). Perfectly aware that he is going to murder Fortunado, yet Montresor toasts to Fortunado's long life to make the reader to feel as if Fortunato is going to somehow foil Montresor's plan. Irony is also utilized when Montresor says, ""A huge human foot d'or in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel." Montresor's family crest creates suspense, because it makes the reader question how Montresor is going to seek his revenge on Fortunato. Irony in "The Cask of Amontillado" creates suspense to make the short story more rememberable and the plot more …show more content…

Before Eckles goes back in time to shoot a dinosaur, he meets his tour guides, Travis and Lesperance. Eckles asks Travis if the safari can guarantee his coming back alive, but Travis discloses that the only thing that they can guarantee are the dinosaurs. The zero assurance of coming back alive is foreshadowing that creates suspense, because it makes the reader wonder if Eckles will survive the safari. Bradbury alludes President Keith several times throughout the reading and makes a point to say how many years it was before his presidency when they go to the past. The numerous mentions of President Keith creates suspense by making the reader wonder why he is mentioned so many times and speculate that something bad is going to happen to him. Travis strictly tells Eckles, "stay on the path. Don't go off it. I repeat. Don't go off. For any reason" (Bradbury 47). Travis's wariness of straying off the path makes suspense because the reader questions why they should not go off the path and what will happen if they stray off of the path. Bradbury creates suspense using foreshadowing in "The Sound of Thunder" to make the reader question what is going to happen next and make the reader feel at the edge of their seat throughout the entire

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