How Do Authors Create and Maintain Tension and Suspense When the Killer Is Known From the Beginning - Research Paper Example

? Death Foretold in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of A Death Foretold Table of Contents Introduction 3 Methods 3 The Effort to Humanize Evil 3 The Use of Irony 4 The Use of Simultaneity 5 The Use of Flashback 6 The Use of Magical Realism 7 The Use of Foreshadowing 9 The Emphasis on the Role of Confusion 11 The Emphasis on the Role of Tradition and Culture 15 Conclusion 16 Appendices 18 The Clutter Family 18 The Clutter Home in Holcomb, Kansas 19 The Murderers Dick and Perry 19 The Actual Murder Case which Marquez Used 20 Introduction Truman Capote’s 1966 novel In Cold Blood is more than just a story of how two ex-convicts murdered a Methodist family of four. In the same way, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 1981 novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold is more than just an account of how the Vicario brothers killed an otherwise innocent man named Santiago just to avenge their sister’s shame. In these two novels, the authors were able to maintain the element of suspense although the reader knows from the very start who the murderers and the victims are. The authors use a variety of techniques in order to arouse the reader’s curiosity and thus keep the suspense. Methods There are several methods used by Truman Capote in In Cold Blood and by Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Chronicle of a Death Foretold in order to build up the element of suspense in their novels. Capote used the effort to humanize evil, irony, simultaneity, flashback and foreshadowing. Marquez used foreshadowing, magical realism, the role of confusion and that of tradition and culture. The Effort to Humanize Evil It is believed that In Cold Blood made Truman Capote the most famous writer in America (Richter 147). The book is an effort to “humanize” the antagonists Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, especially the latter, who is the more complex killer of the two (146). This method of writing a novel may have contributed to how the element of suspense built up in the novel. Evil characters are naturally thought of as inhuman and therefore the reader does not sympathize with them at all. In the novel, particularly in the chapter Persons Unknown, Capote tries to explain why Perry Smith becomes a criminal. Capote lets the readers sympathize with Perry by telling the reader how he was arrested, how his mother died, how his brother committed suicide and how the sister died of an accident. Through these, the reader is somehow confused about what the author intends to make the readers feel and with whom he actually sympathizes. Such confusion would somehow make the reader more curious about why the criminals really murdered the Clutter family and so this helps build up suspense in the story. The Use of Irony In Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, the author builds up suspense by portraying scenes where the members of the Clutter family are actually ignorant of the tragic death that they are all going to experience sooner or later. None of them realizes that it is their last time to see daylight, to have their last meal or to go about their daily tasks. In the chapter “The Last Who Saw Them,” the author portrays the usual daily life of the members of the Clutter family, who do not realize that it will be the last time that they will be doing these things. For example, the narrator describes Herbert Clutter’s task before he comes home that day: “Then, touching the brim of his cap, he headed for home and the day’s work, unaware that it would be his last” (Capote 8). The use of such statements somehow proves the ironic fact that the Clutter family does not realize at all that they will soon be killed. They go about their daily tasks as if it were just an ordinary day. Thus, the author somehow makes the reader curious about how the Clutter family’s daily routine will be disrupted by the murder that is going to happen. This then creates the element of suspense in the story. Moreover, while doing this, the author tells the reader more of the murder that is to take place by explaining what Dick and Perry are doing: “…like a retired jockey, overblown and muscle-bound, outside the drugstore, Perry stationed himself in the sun. It was a quarter to nine, and Dick was a half hour late” (Capote 9). By explaining that the killers are preparing for the murder, Capote is able to make the reader more and more curious about how the killers and the Clutter family would interact sooner or later. The Use of Simultaneity In the same chapter, “The Last Who Saw Them,” the author also does his best to create an element of suspense by shifting quickly from one scene to another alternating between the members of the Clutter family, who are ignorant of what is going to happen to them, and Perry and Dick getting ready for their ride to the town of Holcomb to carry out the gruesome murders. For example, as Mrs. Ashida tells Herbert Clutter, “I can’t imagine you afraid. No matter what happened, you’d talk your way out of it,” the author shifts to Perry and Dick: “By midafternoon the black Chevrolet had reached Emporia, Kansas….” (Capote 23). As Perry tells Dick, “Then we’d better buy the whole roll [of stockings for the victims’ faces]” the author then quickly goes back to Kenyon: “Kenyon had built the chest himself: a mahogany hope chest, lined with cedar, which he intended to give [his sister] Beverly as a wedding present” while the reader will soon find out that this wedding will be postponed because of the murder case (24). The quick shift from the scenes between the Clutters and the murderers somehow makes the reader feel the tension that is building up as the encounter between these two groups of people is approaching. This helps build up the suspense of the story. The Use of Flashback At several instances Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, the author also shifts from the present to the past in order for the reader to be able to understand why exactly the murder happened. For example, in the chapter “Persons Unknown,” the author exposes the life of Perry by explaining how his family members died: “His mother, an alcoholic, had strangled to death on her own vomit…Fern [his sister] jumped out of a window of a San Francisco hotel…the older boy – Jimmy, who had one day driven his wife to suicide and killed himself the next” (Capote 69). Through flashback, Capote tries to give the reader the idea that Perry was able to murder the Clutter family in cold blood because of his difficult past. Through this, the reader somehow begins to understand the reason behind the killing, and the reader becomes more and more curious about what will happen next as the mystery of the death is being solved. On the whole, Capote’s works, including In Cold Blood, usually contain “the most grimly frightening characters and situations of modern fiction [displaying] doom, despair and death” (Goad 18). The Use of Magical Realism In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Marquez’s mention of Santiago’s dreams of birds and trees in the novel is actually an indication of the author’s attempt to entertain readers using magical realism thereby creating an element of suspense. Through the mention of Santiago’s dream of birds and trees, somehow readers are transported to the realm of the supernatural, thus making them wonder how these dreams connect with the realism of the murder, or whether it is true that ominous dreams indeed have a bearing to what will transpire in a person’s life especially a forthcoming death. Santiago dreamed that “he was going through a grove of timber trees where a gentle drizzle was falling, and for an instant he was happy in his dream, but when he awoke he felt completely spattered with bird shit” (Marquez ??). According to Zaidi, Santiago’s feeling that he is flying is somehow demonstrative of a Freudian dream interpretation of a life filled with sexual connotations (108). This may therefore somehow mean that sooner or later he will have to deal with tension that will involve him in some sort of sexual dispute, which eventually turns out to be death. Although the sexual connotation of Santiago’s dream may mean that he is indeed guilty of the sexual act he has committed, i.e. devirginizing Angela, the fact that the story does not present any evidence of this act is the reason why the dream is not likely to mean this. The fact that Santiago is seen by the narrator at the whorehouse is more likely reason for his dream. Nevertheless, the dream is an indication that Santiago will soon confront something involving sex. However, the lack of clarity when it comes to the interpretation of these dreams is the reason why the reader is somehow confused, thus he wants to find out more how important the role of the dream is to the fate of Santiago. Therefore, confusion in the reader may create an idea of suspense and curiosity. Moreover, according to Zaidi, dreams about birds, which Santiago’s mother Placida Linero mistakenly equates with good health, may be associated with a man’s penis as Latin Americans humorously thinks that the idea of a “bird” is associated with the penis (108). This dream could also mean that what will happen to Santiago soon will be related to his manhood or may involve his powers of procreation. Eventually, as the reader can see, Santiago is killed for this reason or for the reason of deflowering Angela before her wedding. Thus, the reader experiences greater tension as the story shows dreams with confusing meanings. Moreover, according to Zaidi, the fig trees in Santiago’s dream represent the shame of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis in the Bible after being expelled from the Garden and Eden as they both cover their nakedness with fig leaves (108). The message of the dream is therefore a kind of secrecy or a way of hiding something away, like a truth. If someone knows this meaning of the dream, it could mean that Santiago is indeed guilty of the crime of deflowering Angela. However, the fig trees could still mean anything like being mistaken as someone involved in a secret sexual crime. Thus, the reader becomes increasingly confused with the mystery that the author assigns to Santiago’s dreams. Once more, this confusion may translate into curiosity about how the dream would affect the outcome of the events in the story, thus they want to find out more as curiosity builds up the suspense. Another way that Marquez creates suspense in his novel is the use of a realistic setting with moments of fantastical magic (Berg 10). In addition to the fact that Santiago Nasar experiences dreams before the day of his murder, there are other instances all throughout the story where the dreamlike state is being emphasized by the author. Pablo Vicario, in his confession says, “It was like being awake twice over” (Marquez 78). Margot, the narrator’s sister, says that Santiago “already had the face of a dead man” (110). Moreover, as Bayardo San Roman approaches Pura Vicario’s doorstep, he “had the green color of dreams” (46). Moreover, the Vicario brothers seem like “insomniac sleepwalkers” when they describe themselves after committing the murder (15). These and many other instances somehow make the reader realize the possible influence of drugs or alcohol in the events that unfold or even as these chemicals interfere with the narrator’s judgment itself. However, more importantly, it creates in the reader a certain curiosity as to how exactly these details of magical reality contribute to the occurrence of the death of Santiago. The Use of Foreshadowing In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Marquez, through Pedro and Pablo’s announcement of the murder even before it takes place is already an evidence of the foreshadowing of the actual act of crime. In fact, all throughout the story, the twins do not hide their plot to kill Santiago, and that they tell everyone of their plan to murder him. Moreover, each village person who hears the information in turn shares it with another. In short, “the characters all seem to know about the impending death” but no one acts to help Santiago directly (Zaidi 110). The narrator’s sister, Margot, even says that Santiago “already had the face of a dead man” (Marquez 110). This means that somehow Margot and the people around Santiago have already predicted his death and have all somehow believed it is going to happen. Moreover, Cristo Bedoya also hears from Pedro Vicario that “dead men can’t shoot” when the latter refers to Santiago after the former tells him that Santiago has a revolver (108). Somehow, these events before the actual murder happens confuse the reader why the people did not do anything to prevent the death of Santiago even though they knew it was going to happen. Somehow, Marquez wants to make the readers of the novel curious about why the people seem so indifferent to the idea of the impending murder. The reader will therefore wonder about the indifference or apathy of the characters towards the threat of death or towards Santiago himself. Thus, suspense is built up by this curiosity. In the same way, Truman Capote uses foreshadowing in In Cold Blood. In the first chapter, “The Last Who Saw Them,” the reader is told that the bookmark lies in the page of Mrs. Clutter’s Bible where it is stated, “Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is” (Capote 19). Mrs. Clutter also says, “All my children are very efficient…they don’t need me” (16). Such statements actually reveal that indeed life will end soon not only for Mrs. Clutter but for her husband and two other children. At the same time, the author is making it a point to tell the reader that this is the last day of the life of this character and that this is their last pie, the last time they arrange their clothes, and so on. This then creates the idea of suspense in the reader and makes him curious about how this end will happen. Thus, the author talks about the end of the lives of the characters in such a way that he makes the reader more and more curious about how this end will exactly take place. The Emphasis on the Role of Confusion In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Marquez also brilliantly shows confusion in most of the events surrounding the death of Santiago. According to Zaidi, the narrator says that Santiago and Angela were never seen together (108). Moreover, the narrator says that Santiago “died without understanding his death” (Marquez 110). The narrator also emphasizes the fact that Santiago is dressed in white on the day of his death. These details somehow then confuses the reader and this is where the author tries to build up suspense in the story. Although the readers already know that Santiago will die, they are curious why death has to happen to an otherwise innocent man. Another confusing scene in Marquez’s novel is when it becomes a little obvious that both Angela and Bayardo San Roman do not seem to like each other (Zaidi 109). When Angela first seems Bayardo, she tells herself, “I detested conceited man, and I’d never seen one so stuck-up [and that] besides I thought he was a Polack” (Marquez 30). According to Zaidi, a Polack or a “polaco” somehow refers to someone who is a victim of the Catholic Church as he is obsessed with female virginity (109). Besides, the idea that Angela calls Bayardo conceited is somehow a strong proof that she dislikes him, and that she will do anything and everything to prevent him from marrying her. This may somehow create in the reader a suspicion that Angela merely makes up a story that it was Santiago who deflowered her, thus making them think that the latter is innocent and that his murder is unjustifiable. In the same way, there are also hints in the story that Bayardo San Roman also dislikes Angela in some way. At one point, he tells the landlady, “When I wake up, remind me that I’m going to marry her” (Marquez 29). If he truly loves her, then why is there a need to remind him about that? The reader then becomes curious whether Bayardo actually disliked the fact that Angela was not a virgin anymore or whether he merely exaggerated this fact in order to get rid of her. Moreover, according to Cristo Bedoya, Bayardo has “sacrificed forty turkeys and eleven hogs for the guests, and four calves…205 cases of contraband alcohol…and almost two thousand bottles of cane liquor” (Marquez 18). This somehow shows the lavishness of Bayardo more than his love for Angela (Zaidi 109). Thus the reader becomes more and more curious at the possible insincerity of Bayardo’s love for Angela. The reader knows in advance that Santiago is to be killed but the reader is curious why, and so this drives the suspense of the story. Another instance of confusion in the story is why Angela has pointed at Santiago as the one who deflowered her, whether or not it is true. According to Zaidi, Angela dislikes Santiago and she resents his negative comments about the grand wedding and its costs (111). In the novel, Angela thinks that Santiago’s name is “at first sight among the many, many easily confused names from this word, and she nailed it to the wall with her will-aimed dart” (Marquez 47). She then adds that Santiago’s name is “like a butterfly with no will whose sentence has always been written” (47). This is indeed very confusing because Angela seems to have only chosen to use Santiago’s name because it simply sounds like a name that can be easily remembered, and that she hates the man who owns it. This somehow then makes the reader more and more curious about how such a choice would influence the death of an otherwise innocent man. In fact, according to McMurray, “Through a labyrinth of deductions, the critic gradually leads the reader to the conclusion that the detective [or] the fictionalized author-narrator himself is the culprit” (2). This means that the narrator himself somehow really knows the truth that Santiago Nasar is not the one who deflowered Angela because it is possible that the narrator knows that he himself did it. During the latter part of the novel, the narrator says, “Angela Vicario was protecting someone who really loved her and she had chosen Santiago Nasar’s name because she thought her brothers would never dare go up against him” (Marquez 90). In fact, even when Angela tells the narrator, “Don’t beat it to death, cousin…He was the one” (90). Nevertheless, her statement is inconclusive and does not really say whether Santiago really did it, but it seems that whoever she means by “He” in “He was the one,” Angela somehow sarcastically hints at the narrator that the latter knows who the culprit it. This mystery, which is rather known as “ambiguity,” is one way Marquez creates suspense in the story (McMurray 2). Another source of confusion in the story is that Marquez’s unnamed narrator is “not all-knowing, this shadowy detective figure appears actively to invite the reader’s participation in the detective process” (Dale 30). This means that instead of feeding the reader the facts of the matter, this detective narrator somehow plays dumb with the facts and makes the reader think for himself what exactly is going on with the story. In fact, at the end of the story, the narrator says, “I tried to get that truth out of her myself when I visited her the second time, with all my arguments in order but [she told me] ‘Don’t beat it to death, cousin’” (Marquez 90). In short, even the detective narrator himself could not find any clue regarding the truth of the matter, thus making the reader assist him in his detective work and thus making the reader more and more curious about what exactly happened and why exactly Santiago was killed. The detective narrator is a mere observer yet he does not exactly provide details on proving why Santiago Nasar should be killed. He would in fact be a poor detective if he were a real detective. His flaws therefore are compensated for by the curiosity of the reader, and consequently, the element of suspense that it creates. Another tool that Marquez uses in Chronicle of a Death Foretold is the labyrinth method (Mishina 3). The labyrinth is a method of writing which has “a tendency to turn upside down inverting perspectives” and is truly Latin American in origin (3). The labyrinth presents the details of the story with two contradictory perspectives, but it has “more than two strong opposing poles,” which means that the plot of the story may be interpreted according to many different perspectives. In the novel, the involvement of Santiago and his alleged crime remain to be based on different perspectives and opinions only. Since there is no definite facts and since the novel ends without any explanation, the reader gets to be curious about the small “whys” and “why-nots” regarding Santiago’s death. This then creates suspense among the readers. The Emphasis on the Role of Tradition and Culture In Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the author is able to instill suspense in the story through hinting at the various aspects of South American or Latino culture, thus making the reader wonder about whether and how far the Latino would bring about or contribute to the death of Santiago. According to Farahmandian, the basis of the murder of Santiago is nothing but the “machismo” or “macho” culture of Latin American and Spanish countries (17). In fact, this somehow justifies the “legitimate defense” by the Vicario brothers of their sister’s lost honor and dignity (17). Moreover, the probable reason why the murder was not stopped is that the society believes in this principle of “machismo” (18). Moreover, in this society of “rigid hierarchies and strict codes of behavior,” tradition and culture somehow play a role in influencing the actions or the inaction of the townspeople (18). This therefore means that perhaps the reason for not preventing Santiago’s death is that not only Pedro and Pablo Vicario but all of the townspeople believe that the Vicario family needs to be vindicated and so Santiago deserves to be punished. Moreover, according to Farahmandian, “Economic and social inequities make Santiago Nasar a target of hatred even as he is an object of admiration” especially because he is “handsome, a man of his word, and with a fortune at twenty-one” (18). Thus, Santiago is an object of envy to many men who believe in the principle of “machismo” and to women as well who may envy any woman to whom Santiago proposes such as Flora Miguel. Therefore, if the reader is familiar with the “machismo” culture of the Latin American countries, then he would somehow predict that Santiago is hated by many people because unlike the many, he is rich, handsome and noble in his word. The reader then becomes more and more curious about how exactly the “machismo” culture would influence the murder of Santiago. Moreover, the reader would then begin to understand why the townspeople somehow never did anything to stop the brothers from killing Santiago. Moreover, it is interesting to note that the whole town is under the influence of “machismo” as weapons are readily available for men including the Vicario brothers, the men are in the whorehouses, and men like Bayardo boasts of how rich and powerful he is. Therefore, any act, no matter how brutal, may be allowed by the townspeople as long as it is according to the principle of “machismo.” Conclusion By using various specific techniques, it is indeed possible to create suspense in a novel although the victims and killers are known from the very start. Truman Capote was successful in doing this in his novel In Cold Blood, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez was equally successful with this in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. For Capote, it was his use of humanization of the evil characters, irony, simultaneity, flashback and foreshadowing that did the job. For Marquez, it was magical realism, foreshadowing, his use of confusing details and his emphasis on tradition and culture. Through these techniques, the reader became more and more curious and so the element of suspense was created. Appendices The Clutter Family (Herbert and Bonnie Mae above, Nancy and Kenyon below) Source: https://findery.com/heather/notes/november-15-1959-four-members-of-the-herbert-clutter-family-are-murdered The Clutter Home in Holcomb, Kansas Source: http://www.gcpolice.org/History/Clutter/Cutter_Family_Murders.htm The Murderers Dick (above) and Perry (below) Source: http://www.gcpolice.org/History/Clutter/Cutter_Family_Murders.htm The Actual Murder Case which Marquez Used The original crime occurred on Monday, 22 January 1951, in the town of Sucre, where Garcia Marquez’s family had been living for ten years. Here is a rudimentary summary of the real-life incidents. After a year’s romantic involvement, Miguel Reyes Palencia, twenty-nine, the scion of a landowning family, married a local schoolteacher named Margarita Chica Salas, twenty-two, on Saturday the twentieth at 7:00 A.M. He loved her, but had also been pressured into marriage by threats from Margarita’s older brothers (not twins) Jose Joaquin and Victor Manuel, commercial fishermen, who had heard slanderous rumors about the young couple. At the wedding night Miguel got completely drunk, then slept the entire day and night following the festivities. Early on Sunday the twenty-first he awoke in a bedroom at the Chica household, saw Margarita naked at his side, and found out she was not a virgin. He beat her, demanding her deflowerer’s name, but she refused. He then returned her to Mrs. Chica, who, on her knees, implored him to wait a few weeks in order to avert scandal. Margarita’s brother Victor now showed up and asked; she named Cayetano Gentile and burst into tears. Cayetano, twenty-four, tall, elegant, and good-looking, the son of successful Italian immigrants, was a third-year medical student. He and Margarita had been engaged once in the past, though this had not prevented him and Miguel Reyes Palencia from being drinking partners and close friends. On the morning he was to die, Cayetano went down to the river port to see Miguel and Margarita off on their honeymoon trip, but the couple, strangely, had never showed up. There he also posted a letter to Garcia Marquez’s father Eligio in Cartagena, and ran into [Garcia Marquez’s] brother Luis and sister Margot, who invited him over for breakfast. Cayetano graciously declined the offer, he being due at the family farm El Verdun that same day. He then went by to see his sweetheart Nydia Naser, not yet aware that Jose and Victor Chica were at the general store across from his two-story house, waiting to hack him to death. A crowd was gathering near Cayetano’s home. His mother Julieta was inside, having been warned about the death threat by a little boy she knew. Seeing one of the Chica brothers running toward the house, but not her son approaching rapidly from the opposite corner, she slammed shut and locked both doors. Cayetano arrived at the front door and started banging and screaming. Julieta, thinking it the pursuers, scurried inside for protection. Cayetano now fled, curiously bypassing the hotel next door (where there was a policeman), and dashed into the following house, but Victor reached his prey and knifed him fourteen times. The victim managed to rise up and walk home, his entrails dangling out. He died there amid relatives, saying “I’m innocent.” The Chica brothers turned themselves in immediately, spent a year in jail, and were finally acquitted. Meanwhile the Chica family moved away, and Margarita, feeling disgraced, did not venture out for two years. Miguel in turn remarried, became an insurance agent, fathered twelve children, and nourished no regrets on the matter. Thereafter he saw Margarita just twice, first for the annulment, and years later on some obscure financial question. [Margarita remained unmarried and living alone.] The townsfolk mostly thought Cayetano guiltless. The crime would have a lasting impact on young Gabo, who was in Cartagena at the time. He knew all of the parties involved; Cayetano had been a friend since childhood, and Julieta was godmother to one of Gabo’s younger brothers. Source: Garcia Marquez: The Man and His Work, 2nd ed. (2010) by Gene H. Bell-Vilada, p. 206-7 Top of Form Bottom of Form Works Cited Berg, Mary G. “Repetitions and Reflections in Chronicle of a Death Foretold.” 1984. California Institute of Technology. 10 August 2013. Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood.” 2013. Wordpress.com. 10 August 2013. Dale, John. “Chronicle of a Death Foretold.” International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing 5:1 (2008): 27-34. Farahmandian, Hamid. “Machismo in Marquez’s Chronicle of A Death Foretold.” Asia-Pacific Science and Culture Journal 1 (2012): 17-23. Goad, Craig M. “Daylight and Darkness, Dream and Delusion: The Works of Truman Capote.” Emporia State Research Studies 16:1 (1967): 5-57. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. Chronicle of a Death Foretold.” 2013. Google.com. 10 August 2013. McMurray, George R. “Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the Powers of Fiction.” The International Fiction Review 16:2 (1988): 1-2. Mishina, Faith. “The Reader’s Struggle with the Multi-Faceted Metaphor of the Labyrinth in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold.” International Journal of Arts and Sciences 3:16 (2010): 188-201. Richter, David H. “Keeping Company in Hollywood: Ethical Issues in Nonfiction Film.” Narrative 15:2 (2007): 140-166. Zaidi, Ali Shehzad. “The Hidden Depths of Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold.” Annals of Ovidius University Constanta - Philology 22 (2011): 107-116. Read More