Comparing the elements of suspense in" Child by Tiger "and "The Most Dangerous Game".
Suspense is the quality in the story which creates emotions of anxiety, excitement and uncertainty in a reader. Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" and "The Child by Tiger" are two very much alike suspense short stories. The two authors are from the same time but lived different lifestyles. Connell was a Harvard graduate who served time in World War 1. Unlike Connell, Wolfe lived a more sheltered life in his community in North Carolina. .
The two Authors use similar elements to bring suspense to the readers. Suspense can be critical in understanding these short stories as whole. It can be the reason why you keep reading or drive you to throw the book across the room. I will be reviewing how the authors used settings, characters, dialogue and conflict to create a suspenseful short story. Suspense becomes a key in judgment of the readers" opinion of the two short stories.
The setting plays a significant part of bringing suspense to each story. In The Most Dangerous Game the story is set on a mysterious island. The island is in the middle of nowhere and is called "Ship-Trap Island." Connell continues to heighten your senses by adding the sailors" dreadfulness of the place. This setting cast a sense of suspicion and beings to build suspense as to what the mysterious island holds. If the setting wasn't on this mysterious island readers would not find the story as suspenseful.
Place can play a big role in suspense. In Thomas Wolfe's child by Tiger centers on Dick Prosser, a black man returning to town as hired help for Mr. Shepperton. Dick lives in a time and place where people are less than friendly to black people. It is clear that he is of low status in his society and that brings about some interesting and suspenseful events. Maybe if Dick Prosser was in a different setting the story's suspense would have been less when it came to his conflict with the society.