Suspense In 'Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been'

Suspense is defined as the author withholding information or when the unexpected happens, leaving you guessing and wanting more. In the story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, he has inserted much suspense in this short (long) story, for the reason that it makes the reader want to know more and having to mindset of excitement or surprise. Another reason he added many suspense is so that it wouldn’t be so blunt, it wouldn’t just tell us what happened it would give us details and how he got or how he did that and more.

Have you ever read a book that continued to keep you interested in what's going to happen next? You get lost in the book trying to figure out what's going to happen before reading on. This happens often in novels that have a lot of suspense like Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” or Tobias Wolff’s “Hunters In The Snow.” The fact that they both have suspense is often the only similarity people can think of. There are many similarities and differences in them both that get ignored such as similarities and differences in the plot, theme, and characters.

Authors of great stories often use good technical writing skills. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast two short stories: Where Are you going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates and Hills Like White Elephants by Earnest Hemingway. The comparison and contrast will be done based on their use of plot, point of view and character development.

“This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last,” Oscar Wilde and many others have given us these small pieces of enlightenment, suspense is hated yet yearned for at the same time. Suspense is waiting for a decision or outcome to happen. Suspense makes everyone who reads it enchanted by it as if it were magic. If it's a book, they cannot stop reading if it is a film they cannot stop watching. People are engrossed by anticipation while trying to figure out what is lurking around the corner with suspense. The three most suspenseful texts I have read this unit are Sorry, Wrong Number by Lucille Fletcher, “Let ‘Em Play God” by Hollywood Reporter and “Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, and Two Kinds of Suspense All Authors Should Be Aware Of” by Victoria Grefer. I’m going to demonstrate you in the following three paragraphs how the texts show you things, but also leave you guessing.

The author uses different methods to portray suspense, “the uncertainty or anxiety that an author makes the reader feel so that the reader wonders about what will happen next in the story, novel, or other work of literature”. The story,”The Landlady,” written by Roald Dahl, portrays suspense by making the protagonist, Billy Weaver, encounter many strange and suspicious events with the landlady when he stays at her bed and breakfast. Dahl effectively builds suspense throughout the selection by applying numerous writing techniques such as foreshadowing and imagery.

First, suspense one of the most annoying yet amazing part of a narrative. Suspense is a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen “I will not lose my nerve. I will not.” (32). Suspense plays a huge part in this story. Throughout the whole story suspense is everywhere,

You have been reading and learning about stories of suspense, in addition to studying techniques authors use to generate a feeling of suspense in readers. Now you will use those techniques to write your own suspenseful narrative based on real or imagined experiences and events.

The night is crisp and black as the moon lets off an eerie glow, leaves rustle and fall somewhere in the distance. A silhouette dwarfs the blackberry bush in the corner as one’s footsteps refrain, they move closer; you run. Suspense is a state of tension and anxiety which was used in the sentence above and is common in books and short stories. In the short story “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W Jacobs suspense is created in a variety of ways. Jacobs demonstrates this by using foreshadowing, conflict and surprise endings.

In both the excerpts "Jams" and "Swimming with Nightmares" by Peter Benchley, the author creates suspense in many ways. The author utilizes descriptive words, character's choices, and dangerous situations for creating suspense.

Suspense is a detail that many horror writer use to catch the attention of many readers and keep them holding on till the end. Just as W.F. Harvey does when creating suspense in his story August Heat. Mr. Harvey used three methods to create his suspense for his story, foreshadowing, withholding information, and reversal. With these three methods he is able to make the reader feel like, “ We may even hold our breath without realizing it as we read on eagerly to find out how the story ends”(Source 1).

Tension and uncertainty caused by the unknown is the meaning of suspense. In “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs suspense is found. During “The Monkey’s Paw” by Jacobs suspense is created through setting, irony, and foreshadowing. Much suspense is caused by these story elements.

In the short story “The Sound of Thunder”, by Ray Bradbury, suspense is built through setting,foreshadow,conflict.The first way, the author creates suspense is by the setting. The setting makes the story suspenseful by how they go throw time to go make in time by a time machine and when they get there they are in the middle of a jungle to 1492. Once they got to the jungle in 1492 they got out of the time machine and started talking about the rules and about how if they step of the trail or kill an animal that was not supposed to be killed there will be consequences. “The Machine slowed; its scream fell to a murmur. The Machine stopped. The sun stopped in the sky. The fog that had enveloped the Machine blew away and they were in an old time, a very old time indeed, three hunters and two Safari Heads with their blue metal guns across their knees.” Oncy they got there they followed they the people showing them which animal to hunt and telling them so hunt the ones with the red paint on them. In conclusion the reader knows it is suspenseful if they step off of the trail or shot one of them without red paint then they would be killed or have to pay a fine.

Authors use suspense to create tension and draw the reader into the story.When the author uses suspense they can use an ambiguous ending to create suspense or they can use a common fear that many people might have.For example Poe uses a dark room to create suspense and Jacobs uses an ambiguous ending to creates suspense.They both create a dark setting to increase the suspense in their stories.People like suspense because it gives the story structure it makes the story more interesting to the reader.

The author sprinkles suspense to leave the reader feeling what the characters feel in the short story. The use of suspense was given out when Maurier stated “Frightened

Ever wonder what’s going to happen next in a story? Suspense is that literary element and it’s used in almost all cases of writing. Some authors use a lot of it to build up their stories, others, not so much. Ray Bradbury, an American author and screenwriter was one of those authors who used suspense to build up the tension and develop the plot of his stories. From beginning to end, genre to genre, suspense can be found all over his work. “A Sound of Thunder”, “The Veldt”, and “The Pedestrian” are just three examples of Bradbury’s work where he uses suspense all over the text to keep the reader on the edge of their seat and wondering what’s going to happen next.