Examples Of Foreshadowing In The Landlady

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Short stories have influenced our society and opinions just as much and as powerfully as novels have. They have made us think, brought issues to our attention that we have may never have even considered and made us ponder deep, philosophical questions. Often, they are beautifully crafted to make us think these things. Often, that is a result of three main literary techniques. Suspense, Foreshadowing, Mood, and Tone. Suspense is what keeps the reader on edge and what makes the keep reading, while foreshadowing is often not recognized until the final plot twist at the end when all of the subtle hints in the story click together.The mood is the emotions and feelings brought upon the readers due to the story, while tone is the emotional atmosphere …show more content…

They work together, hand in hand, each contributing to each other. The foreshadowing causes there to be rising suspense and in the suspense there is more foreshadowing and so on and so forth. Suspense is the main factor in adding to the overall mood of the story. There is much suspense in “The Landlady” because from the beginning you can tell something is off. From Billy Weaver’s reactions to the Landlady’s behavior you know something is wrong. Except you cannot tell what is wrong and what is going to happen. This gives an air of excitement as well as dread because you know something is going to happen to Billy Weaver at the end, but what is it? This quote is an especially well written example of suspense and foreshadowing bringing an intense mood to the story, “‘I suppose he left fairly recently,’ Billy said. He was still puzzling his head about the two names. He was positive now that he had seen them in the newspapers – in the headlines. ‘Left?’ she said, arching her brows. ‘But my dear boy, he never left. He’s still here.’” (Dahl 4) Dahl was clearly going for a dark tone in the book, meant to scare and chill the readers. This is present in the quote stated before, the foreshadowing and hidden references to something gruesome in the past and something horrible to

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