How Is Tension Created in Susan Hills Novel

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In chapter six tension and suspense reaches its first significant climax, as Arthur gets lost in the mist and hears the terrifying screams of the drowning Drablow boy. There are a number of techniques used by Hill in chapter six which build this tension and a sense of fear including the use of adverbs, powerful adjectives, rhetorical questions, personification, pathetic fallacy and a typical Gothic setting. Hill uses adverbs and verbs to give us a sense of the fear that Arthur is experiencing and to add a sense of urgency and tension to the chapter. For example, she says that Arthur began to walk “briskly across the gravel” and that he kept “glancing” over his shoulder. This shows that Arthur is scared and that he is desperate to get away from the house as quickly as possible due to the fact that he feels like something something is following him. Furthermore, it is clear that he expects that something bad is about to happen and therefore his tension foreshadows the appearance of the mist and the drowning of the pony and trap. Hill uses the senses to give us a sense of the fear and isolation that Arthur is experiencing. For example, in the opening line of the chapter when Arthur notices that “outside, all was quiet.” This line reminds us that Arthur is vulnerable because the land that surrounds Eel Marsh house doesn’t have any neighbors and therefore if Arthur were in danger he would not have anybody to help him. Moreover, the use of the word “Quiet” reverts his loud running over the gravel back to silence which is something that Hill uses a lot to juxtapose the too, but also to make a false sense of safety as now silence has come, danger is just around the corner. This links to one of the key techniques that Hill uses to create fear in the novel: the use of an isolated and spooky setting. Arthur represents the troubled narrator and he goes through all the
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