Techniques Used to Create Tension in I’m the King of the Castle

Question 1(a)

What technique does Susan Hill use to create tension in I’m the King

of the Castle. Refer closely to the two incidents in the novel to

illustrate your answer.

Susan Hill implements a couple of writing techniques to create tension

in the novel. Tension n this sense simply means mental strain or

excitement in the readers. One of the techniques used is shown when

she uses a third-person narration to narrate the story. This narrator

is omniscient and implies that he/ she is not one of the characters in

the novel and at the same time know everything that is running through

the characters’ minds. Hill uses this technique to bring the readers

on a journey of moving freely in time and space to allow them to know

what any character is doing or thinking at any one point of time. This

is only possible because the narrator is not a character in the novel

and is allowed to be anywhere, anytime. A limitation of this technique

is that the omniscient narrator is in control of what the readers are

exposed to and this may in turn produce a biased thinking against a

c...