The Black Cat Figurative Language Essay

In the excerpts from The Black Cat and Pet Sematary, Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King fabricate their tales of horror by using the audience’s morbid curiosity and subconscious fears in their advantage to induce a sense of fear and suspense. The writers emphasize the importance of using figurative language and other literary devices to captivate the moment in the story and to keep the audience intrigued. Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King’s horror stories are deemed as relevant pieces of literary works, since many people consider that the horror genre is faltering in literature and other media, particularly in films. The authors demonstrate that through the creative use of syntax, sensory language, imagery, frightened tones, and even some allusions; they can adequately build suspense and tension.

Use rapidly changing emotions to build suspense. By showing the hero’s emotions (her hopes, fears, worries and conflicts) changing rapidly in response to some threat or confrontation you can build suspense to a crescendo that will bring your readers to the edge of their seats, eg

Vague unease becomes fear becomes terror becomes shrieking hysteria;

Irritation becomes annoyance becomes anger becomes murderous rage;

Throughout their stories, Steven King and Edgar Allen Poe

They used figurative language, such as metaphors and similes, to describe the character’s eerie surrounding and their thoughts and feelings, but, ultimately, it all factors into the story’s suspense. Although literary devices are used well in horror stories like Pet Sematary and The Black Cat to build suspense, that does not mean it can not be applied in other genres in literature and other forms of media. Stephen King and Edgar Allen Poe demonstrated that they could efficiently create suspense in their stories through the use of rhetorical