Uneasy Homecoming By Will F Jenkins Building Suspense

Uneasy Homecoming By Will F Jenkins

Building Suspense … • Time: • • “The last thin sliver of crimson sun went down below the world’s edge. ” The safety of day is over Sense of descending into hell Darkness encourages your imagination to run wild • Place: • • • Lonely, isolated Sense of vulnerability Plays on a common fear of being alone in an empty house

Building Suspense … • Immediate sense of uneasiness: • • From the title From the first sentence • Uncertainty (for Connie and the reader) about whether the threat is real or imagined • Foreshadowing (hints of trouble), e. g. the window, motorbike, telephone conversation • Dramatic irony • The author makes Connie’s fear universal: • “But it was also the unnerving realization that the fears she’d had about Them, the men who prey on others, were not entirely groundless. ”

Building Suspense … • Pacing: • • The author releases details steadily, bit by bit, so the reader doesn’t get a chance to relax He confirms the presence of a burglar - thereby easing the tension - but then immediately escalates it again by introducing the threat of violence • Keeps the reader guessing: • • He suggests possibilities … but they don’t work out (e. g. the telephone, riding the motorbike) The audience wonders how she is going to get away • We are unsure of the burglar’s identity right up to the end (Tom? ? ) even though she knows who it is

Building Suspense … • Word choice: • Dread, red dying sun, uneasy feeling intensified, restlessness, apprehension, silence, absurd, unbearable, infinite despair, unnerving, fears, etc • Ellipsis: • “So he would go into the bedroom and look under the bed …” • Senses: • Uses sight and smell