Perrine's Literature (Structure, Sound, and Sense) - Essay Example

Suspense is the ability of a story to keep the reader curious and anxious of how the plot will turn out. However, suspense could be simple or subtle. In most cases, literary forms of fiction use mystery to create suspense. The use of suspense in “The Hunters In The Snow” and “The Cask Of Amontillado” have been tailored in different techniques to absorb the readers into the stories. Each author’s use of basics of crude or subtle approach determines how suspenseful a story is (Thomas & Johnson 104). I found “The Hunters In The Snow” to be more suspenseful of the two short stories. This is simply because the author employed the technique of creating suspense by use of characters. The author doesn't tell us directly what the nature of the characters is but rather uses indirect character presentation. By doing this, he left us, the readers, wondering what the characters’ true nature is. Later on it is revealed to us what the characters stand for through their actions and not by direct explanation. Hence this keeps us absorbed in the story from its beginning to the end. For instance, suspense is created when the author introduces us to Tub when he follows Kenny and Frank back to the truck. We are told: “He sat down on a stump and wiped his face. He ate both the sandwiches and half the cookies, taking his own sweet time.” This is after the three had taken lunch in, which Tub ate, a boiled egg and a stick of celery claiming to be on a diet. This is a clue to what Tub’s true nature is since the other men frequently mock Tub of his weight. Thus, we find out that Tub is actually overweight through the impression the author’s indirect presentation reveals to us (Thomas & Johnson 104). Unlike to the technique used in “the hunters in the snow,” “the Cask Of Amontillado” employs foreshadowing to build suspense. For instance, Fortunato says: “I shall not die of a cough,” and Montresor responds “True,” since he is aware that Fortunate will die from hunger in the crypt. The description of Montresor’s family coat of arms is also a hint of his future plans hence foreshadows what will transpire as the story unfolds. In “The Hunters In The Snow” the use of indirect character presentation creates and keeps the reader absorbed in the story to the end; whereas the technique of employing foreshadowing to create suspense is the crucial wit the author uses in “The Cask Of Amontillado” to keep the reader absorbed till the end. Another instance of suspense in “The Cask Of Amontillado” is when Fortunato watches himself being bricked in brick by brick by Montresor holding his breath to see if it was a weird joke. The suspense dissolves after Montresor puts into place the last brick (Thomas & Johnson 104). In “The Cask Of Amontillado,” the author employs the first person narrator point of view to develop the plot of the story. The author uses a monotonous, persistent perverse narration throughout. The point of view is crucial since it has a great role in influencing the perception of the story by the readers. Being the narrator, Montresor is entitled to his own point of view, which is vengeful, telling us that he vowed revenge against Fortunato. As it is stated in his family’s coat of arms: “no one attacks me with impunity.” Both Montresor and Fortunato have a history, which for Montresor is a bitter history. Right from the beginning, he tells us: “the thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge.” This revelation creates an emotional attachment with the reader and enhances suspense as we get eager to find out what will transpire. The reader moves through the story while Montresor plans and carries out his revenge against Fortunato. A conflict arises when Montresor seeks to give Fortunato a lasting punishment since there is no other way to get away with it. On the other hand, Fortunato must never get a chance to revenge back otherwise Montresor will lose. The first person narrator point of view contributes much in developing the theme of revenge as Montresor carries out his dreadful series of retribution, which he implements in a mass grave (Thomas & Johnson 105). The point of view of the story in which Montresor dictates in every respect progresses and the reader gets to know only what he says. Beside the things that Montresor reveals, we do not get to know anything else. This makes it hard for one to infer much since Fortunato does not get a chance to give his other side of the story of what Montresor claims. In case the story was narrated from a different point of view, the story would have been more suspenseful since Montresor’s intention to revenge would not have been exposed from the start. There would be a better emotional attachment that the reader would get since Fortunato would stand a chance. Personally, I prefer the first person narrator point of view because I get to relate with the narrator through the sentiments he expresses (Thomas & Johnson 105). Poetry pays tribute to the surroundings more so through the use of figurative language to appreciate the gift of nature. In the poem “Blackberry Eating” the use of figurative language, such as imagery, has successfully conveyed the literal meaning to its readers. To begin with, in line 7 “Lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries” is a figurative expression of the poet’s love for berries also a sensory language since the ripest berries infer taste. This enables the poet to involve a reader in the experience of eating blackberries and saying the words in this line. The poet is rich in use of both figurative and sensory language. For instance, in line 8 “fall almost unbidden to my tongue” this unbidden fall of the berries to the tongue literally implies the tangible relation between objects, blackberries and words. The tongue is metaphorically a instrument of speech in which words sometimes do fall in a similar way like the blackberries did. The sensory language used in line 8 illustrates the sensory traits of touch since he touches the fruit physically and eats. In relation to this the expression of peculiar words such as “strengths” and “squinched” behave in a similar manner. This has effectively engaged me as a reader with the experience of eating blackberries by use of words invoking the sense of touch and taste. The words “icy” and “overripe” are peculiar to me. The word “icy” in line 2 is among other adjectives hence implies gluttony or excess mouth filling or gormandizing. The adjective “overripe” is also in line 2; the adjectives follow each other like berry after another being banged into the mouth hence the impression of the iteration effect in line 2 and the popping of berries into the mouth in gluttonous manner (Thomas & Johnson 107). In the poem “The Unknown Citizen” Auden’s message is about the government’s perspective of the flawless modern man in idealistic society. In this perspective, the government has stage-managed human intelligence to the extent that it has absolute control over every citizen’s live and mind. This is stimulated by the motive of building an equal society that will do away with envy, hatred and war. Although this may be true, the process of building an equal society has negative side effects such as lack of authentic and loss of individuality which surpasses the benefits of an equal society. In the long run, the government’s venture to create an equal society is dictatorial and comprises democracy. The government is insensitive by assessing the worth of its citizens by statistics. Furthermore, the government has crossed the line by dictating the number of children a citizen should raise. The citizen described in the poem is not entitled to freedom of individuality and personal expression; hence the state government is likened to a communist system form of government. This is evident for the government supposes that an ideal citizen is “One against whom there was no official complaint and in everything he did he served the community” (Thomas & Johnson 108). This poem is timely and adequate for the modern society since most individuals who run for office in the United States pretend to be like the “The Unknown Citizen”; a perfect worker with neither vices nor strange opinions and in a contented marriage with brilliant, healthy children. This is only idealistic but not practical since no one’s life is perfect. Even if it were true, there could be one or two weird things about a person. The idea of a perfect citizen is only a myth formulated by those in power. The fictional “Unknown Citizen” is, in fact, the means by which power is exercised (Thomas & Johnson 108). Work Cited Thomas, R. Arp, & Greg Johnson. Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sounds and Sense. New York, Cengage Learning, 2011. Print Read More