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Literary Devices In The Demon Lover By Elizabeth Bowen

Decent Essays

“Mrs. Drover’s mouth hung open for some seconds before she could issue her first scream” (Bowen, 1162). Set in London during World War II, “The Demon Lover” is a suspenseful story about a woman whose former fiancé, whom she previously assumed was dead, has come back for her twenty-five years later. In “The Demon Lover,” the author, Elizabeth Bowen uses various literary techniques that include imagery and mood, character development, and mood/tone to convey the suspenseful and mysterious mood and (spirit/feeling) of the story. The literary techniques of imagery and mood were used to promote a feeling of suspense and mystery in “The Demon Lover.” “It was late August; it had been a steamy showery day: at the moment the trees down the …show more content…

This piece of evidence also uses imagery and mood to create this feeling of suspense and to in a way foreshadow what is to come. Character development played a major part in “The Demon Lover,” in that, it caused the reader to better understand both the main character and the story. It did this by, in this case, showing the reader that the character had not changed, thus causing the reader to feel like they had a better connection to the main character. “She had been anxious to see how the house was—the part­-time caretaker she shared with some neighbors was away this week on his holiday, known to be not yet back. At the best of times he did not look in often, and she was never sure that she trusted him” (Bowen, 1159). Nothing has really happened yet in the story, the author is just describing the scene, mood, and character before any major development. This evidence shows character development because it shows the main character’s natural mindset and attitude before any major events have happened. This literary technique helps the audience to understand that the main character has for the most part stayed the same. Specifically, this piece of evidence displays character development because it shows that Kathleen is an anxious and worried woman. This is important to the story because it later allows the readers to realize that Kathleen undergoes virtually no character development

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