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Suspense In The Monkey's Paw

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“The Monkey’s Paw” is no ordinary story, this tale pounds upon the reader with the unrelenting suspense, but how does this story create such suspense? The pacing of the story keeps the reader wonder what has happened and keeps them latched onto this thrilling tale. Foreshadowing foretells the story prior to the actual reveal causing the reader to find these hidden clues guiding deeper into the story. Last but certainly not the least any information taken away from the story contributes to the suspense due to its intense grasp upon the reader forcing them to delve deeper into the story. This eerie sensation given off by this story can be called many things but the true name for this feeling is suspenseful. Pacing is a key element in any story …show more content…

“The Monkey’s Paw” holds back a lot of information, a perfect example of this is when Herbert’s boss comes to tell Mr. White about his son’s death he wouldn’t say Herbert had died he only said, “He was badly hurt, but he’s not in any pain.” It leaves the readers imagination to decide on what happened to Herbert; this state of unknowing creates suspense forcing the reader to continue to read to figure out what happened. Another example of this literary device is when Mr.White says to Mrs.White "He has been dead ten days, and besides he - I would not tell you else, but - I could only recognize him by his clothing. If he was too terrible for you to see then, how now?" this is almost self-explanatory, during those 10 days the no information is given as well as Herbert’s appearance, so the reader is left to decide based on all the give information; what had happened to Herbert. THe intentional lack of detail was a great contributor to the story and would not have reached the level of suspense that it did without the withholding of

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