Development of Tension in Several Stories
The "Black Cottage" was written in 1859 by Wilkie Collins and is a
typical example of Victorian melodrama. The story is narrated by a
young girl named Bessie as she faces responsibility, insecurity and
eventual success.
Strong tension is developed from very early on in this story. With no
mother and the rest of her family working away, the young girl is
physically and emotionally isolated, creating many potential dangers.
Adding to the tension and this sense of isolation is the location of
the Black Cottage; it is situated in the heart of a moor in the West
of England with no neighbours. Bessie does have some companionship,
she knows Mrs. Knifton, and described as her "foster sister" she is a
recently married friend of her mother's. Despite this, the reader's
curiosity is occupied and immediate questions are raised as she speaks
about the friendship and kindness, "I shall remember gratefully to the
last day of my life." Many pieces of extremely effective tension are
created here.
The name of the cottage is obvious because of the outside exterior
decoration and can be established as a symbolic dimension. Black is
highly associated with evil and the reader is given a clear impression
that something bad will happen there, creating a subtle but
significant amount of tension.
In paragraph five the reader realises that Bessie is entirely alone
except for the cat. When the message arrives for Bessie's father to go
to the county town for business her absolute certainty over her safety
provides apprehension for the reader, "No thieves had ever come as our
poverty was sufficient protection...
... middle of paper ...
...to do the job in
hand; £1. In those days £1 was a great deal of money for a job, so
suspicions arise for the reader and immediate and very effective
tension is created. We begin to imagine just how important this job
is, as someone so tight-fisted and intimidating as Fagin is willing to
pay so much for one job.
Although not completely obvious at the start, the setting of the story
itself builds very strong and effective tension. In this time that the
story is set in especially, London was a grim, sinister and dangerous
place to be. The shadowy labyrinth of streets, back alleys and tunnels
are the perfect environment for criminals like Fagin. This setting
alone creates so much potential for bad things to happen, the reader
would pick up on this sooner or later and an extremely powerful sense
or tension is created.
on a journey of moving freely in time and space to allow them to know
lord’s castle. We get the sense that Beowulf is an outcast because of the lengthy distance
Story Time, by Edward Bloor, Harcourt: United States of America, 2001. 424 pages. Reviewed by Mar Vincent Agbay
Tension is defined as “pleasurable excitement and anticipation regarding an outcome, such as the ending of a mystery novel”(reference.com). In Hamlin Garland’s story, “Up the Coolly” and Sherwood Anderson’s story “The Departure”, both authors portray the tension at a subtle amount throughout the story. In Sherwood Anderson’s short story is about a man makes a life changing decisions which causes the past to fulfil his brain and make him realize that all his memories were made in Ohio. Now that he has made the decision moved to New York, the people who surround him give him advice and get him ready for what the city holds for him. In the same way, “Up the Coolly” provides a dark and depressing vibe that is expressed off the main character Howard
Pay is two dollars a week. We were all lucky. We had a roof over our head and food in our bellies, even if it were onion stew, most days. " Now, it's 1974 and I ask my granddaughter for a pop at the lumber yard. 50 cents for a 16 ounce bottle of pop.
The word danger probably makes you want to turn away and stop doing whatever it is that you are doing. Well, what do you do when you see the words, “The Danger of a Single Story?” These words had me nervous about what I was going to be watching. However, there was a lot of information that was explained throughout this 20-minute TED talk from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This paper will explore compelling ideas she mentioned that relate to things I have experienced when I went to another culture, the risks of telling a single story narrative in intercultural interactions, ways to protect myself from single story misconceptions, and how I was able to see how a single story might affect the way I communicate with others in different cultures.
Have you heard of the book Maniac Magee? Maniac Magee becomes an orphan at the age of three. His parents died in a trolley accident and ran away after living with his aunt and uncle for 8 years. Maniac’s real name is Jeffrey. He is a kind hearted person who is athletic and he’s always thinking about others. Maniac has trouble finding a permanent home and being accepted in the black community even though he’s white. In both the movie and book they have similarities and differences.
Watch this Ted Talk, The Danger of a Single Story: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en (Links to an external site.)
Conflict is the hurdle between characters of a story which create worries for the readers about the next plot of that story and which will be resolved in the next plot. Children’s literature can only engage the reader and make the story successful on the basis of conflict. Conflict produces the drama and which makes their readers more involved in that story. In literary elements, there are three common of conflict in a story: 1. Character vs Character 2. Character vs the world 3. Character vs him/herself. (module 2). Hana’s suitcase story has conflict of character versus the world and The Paper Bag Princess’s story has conflict of character versus society. There are the two different conflicts in the two stories. In Hana’s suitcase, Hana is
Throughout the world, people have always and will always judge each other based on their skin tone, their accent, their home country or other obvious features that we immediately see or hear about them. We often formulate our opinions of these people based on our first impressions of them. In 2009, Civil rights activist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie uses her time on her Ted-Talk to deliver her resonating speech “The Danger of a Single Story.” During her world-renowned speech, Adichie discusses human relationships, how we, as humans, interact with one another and treat each other. Adichie establishes her argument with one powerful metaphor describing common stereotypes as ‘single stories’ to demonstrate how people are affected by being judged based
because of the Moor I would be other than I am now, free of tormenting
arms and food he needed money, so he decided to rob a bank. He chose a
In “The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin expresses many themes through her writing. The main themes of this short story are the joy independence brings, the oppression of marriage in nineteenth century America, and how fast life can change.
The scene takes place in the Carbone living room; you can tell they have just finished a family meal because Beatrice and Catherine are clearing up the table. At first the atmosphere is relaxed and calm, they are talking about normal things, ‘They went to Africa once.’ Then the tension rises, ‘I know lemons are green for Christ’s sake!’ This is between Eddie and Rodolpho. Eddie gets upset and angry when he’s wrong and especially when the person who gets it right is Rodolpho. Eddie doesn’t like it when he’s challenged and he hates it every time Rodolpho speaks. Beatrice, the ‘peacemaker’, tries to stop any bad things from taking place and diverts the conversation, ‘Your wife is gettin’ the money alright, Marco,’ by butting in.
The novel Lord of the Flies was published by William Golding In 1954. This book was about a plane carrying a group of British schoolboys that was shot down over the Pacific on a deserted tropical island. The boys survive the crash, but the pilot was dead. They find themselves on an island, where they are alone without any adult supervision. This novel includes many conflicts. A Conflict involves a struggle between two opposing forces usually a protagonist and an antagonist, but there is more than one kind of conflict. The three main conflicts in this novel are man vs self, man vs nature and man vs man.