Scary Stories About Roald Dahl Dahl made his writing scary and creepy by putting in the following: mystery, unexpected deaths, and darkness. I’m going to show you what elements I think Dahl put into his stories to make it scary or creepy. This is mostly about two stories written by Roald Dahl, he makes them have all what I’m about to explain. First, What Makes it Mysterious? In the first story “the landlady” they say “He pressed the bell. Far away in a back room he heard it ringing, and then at once-it must have been at once because he hadn’t even had time to take his finger from the bell-button-the door swung right open and a woman was standing there”. I think this was mysterious because then the man says “normally you ring the bell and you have at least half-minute’s wait before the door opens” and that’s why it seems to have a bit of questions to answer. In the second story “lamb to the slaughter” they say “I’m afraid, he said. But I’ve thought about it a good deal and I’ve decided that the only thing to do is to tell you …show more content…
In the first story “The Landlady” it says “she nodded towards the dachshund curled up so comfortably in front of the fire. Billy looked at it. And suddenly he realised that this animal had all the time. Been just as silent and motionless as the parrot. He could see the skin underneath, grayish-black and dry and perfectly preserved. I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away. I think this has death with it because when her pets die or kills them, then stuffs them. In the second story “Lamb to the slaughter” it says “At that point Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause, she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head. She might as well hit him with a steel bar”. I think this particular part of the story has death because the wife killed her husband with a frozen
Every story, every book, every legend, every belief and every poem have a reason and a background that creates them. Some might be based on historical events, some might be based on every culture´s beliefs, and some others might be based on personal experiences of the authors. When a person writes a literary piece, that person is looking for a way to express her opinion or her feelings about a certain situation. A good example is the poem “Southern Mansion” by Arna Bonptems. The main intention of “Southern Mansion” could have been to complain, or to stand against the discrimination and exploitation of black people throughout history. However, as one starts to read, to avoid thinking about unnatural beings wandering around the scene that is depicted is impossible. The poem “Southern Mansion” represents a vivid image of a typical ghost story which includes the traditional element of the haunted house. This image is recreated by the two prominent and contradictory elements constantly presented through the poem: sound and silence. The elements are used in two leading ways, each one separate to represent sound or silence, and together to represent sound and silence at the same time. The poem mixes the two elements in order to create the spooky environment.
The house is dark and eerily quiet. This shows how not only tone but description of the setting is used to create suspense in that sentence. In the “Landlady,” by Roald Dahl introduction to Bill Waver, who is intrigued by this nice place called the “Bed and Breakfast”, and never got to leave. In the “The Monkey’s Paw,” W.W Jacob introduction is Herbert and Mr. White who receive a monkey paw that has three wishes but something went bad on the second wish. Therefore, suspense is depicted in both Roald Dahl's short story, "The Landlady" and W.W Jacob short story, "The Monkey's Paw" through the use of tone and description of the setting.
Picture yourself walking into your home from a good night spending, you put your stuff down and lay on the couch. Suddenly you hear footsteps upstairs and a big thump. Curiosity gets to you, so you go upstairs to check on what it was; no one could be in the house, you live alone. You walk into your room and start examining every corner, nothing. Once you’re about to leave the door slams shut, the light turns off, and the window shatters; trying to reach for the switch the light turns back on and in front of you a black figure stands and whispers your name slowly. This type of story is designed to make your heart beat as fast as a buzzer, they are known as horror stories. A writer tries to scare the reader by trying to relate to relate to everyone’s fear, or by using suspense. Suspense is needed for a good horror story; writers would use reversal or foreshadowing.
Most authors use 4 utilities to make a story entertaining. They use the setting, mood, tone, and the archetypes to keep the author entertained. Cinderella by Jacob and WilHelm Grimm and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Marsha Hatfield were both scary because they showed how the tone and mood affected the story, themselves, and the readers at the same time. The horror genre is spooky and unlike other genres, because they are written to scare audiences. In order to do that authors and directors have to change settings, establish tones and moods, and use archetypes that are darker than all other genres. Multiple authors make similar decisions to create archetypes, setting, mood, and tones that uphold the horror genre.
When writing a story that is meant to scare the reader, authors use a variety of different literary elements to intensify fear. This is apparent in the stories “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “beware: do not read this poem,” and “House Taken Over”. It is shown through transformation in the character, setting, and sometimes even the story or poem itself, adding to the scariness that the reader feels when reading it. While there are some examples of transformation not being scary or not playing a role in stories meant to scare us, transformation plays a crucial role in making the reader of these stories scared.
Poe and Dahl both create the effect of suspense. The feeling of being uncertain of what may happen next. In "Lamb to the slaughter" Dahl illustrates suspense when Mary Maloney knocks her husband over the head (pg. 4) after she's introduced as a sweet, loving, woman. After she kills him she doesn't react emotionally. This is incredibly surprising and leave readers wondering "What's she going to do now?" "What's her plan?" this is very suspenseful. Here, we note that Dahl creates suspense. Poe illustrates suspense throughout the story "Cask of Amontillado" using language. Poe carefully chooses strong words to create the effect ...
Another way that death and loss is evidenced by this novel is when Lennie killed Curley’s wife. When Lennie is in the barn (after killing his new puppy) Curley’s wife came into the barn and came on to Lennie. Lennie not knowing what was happening let her lull him into touching her hair. To Lennie it was like petting any other animal. Curley’s wife became flustered when Lennie became scared and would not let go of her hair. She started to scream and Lennie tried to cup her mouth, which concluded in him killing her. Lennie was truly remorseful after this action. Soon after killing her Lennie can be heard saying to himself, “I done a bad thing. I done another bad thing (121).”
Reasons why writers use suspense in their horror stories “horror stories are designed to make our pulses race our skin tingle.” Some of the greatest horror stories like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,
What do people usually do after somebody has died, bury them or stuff the body to preserve them? In the story, “The Landlady” a 17-year-old businessman, Billy Weaver, came to a city called, “Bath” and stumbled on a sign that said, “BED AND BREAKFAST.” Hypnotized by the sign suddenly Billy went into the boarding house, rang the bell, and immediately a lady appeared. Roald Dahl uses sensory details, and figurative language to manipulate the mood of the text in the story, “The Landlady.”
No matter the type of media in which they are presented, most great works of horror make use of some imagery to elicit the fear present within people. This is perhaps most easily done in the world of cinematography, as scary movies and television present an actual picture alongside sound. When combined effectively these two elements nearly immerse an individual in a horrific experience. Writers however find themselves with a greater challenge, for they must rely on the reader’s imagination to invoke a sense of terror. At times authors of horror will choose to write with imagery that is incredibly specific, and which describes to readers frightening situations for them to envision. This could be through descriptions of unsettling events, or it could involve the construction of a disturbing atmosphere. However while such examples possibly contain the most horrifying concepts imaginable, they are reliant on the idea that a reader will in fact treat the explained occurrence as scary. Other macabre imagery is stated in such a way that much stays unknown. This type does not outright tell readers what they should picture or feel in their mind; rather it prompts them to think of some situation based on what they consider fear provoking. It still is considered imagery because the diction stimulates the senses; it simply relies on human thoughts to fill in the specifics. This makes for a very effective type of terror since at its root it demonstrates that humans always find ways to fear the unknown or what they do not understand. In an attempt to create a genuine piece of horror, and therefore unsettle or perhaps even scare the readers of his poem, Howard Phillips Lovecraft wrote “The Messenger” ...
How W.W. Jacobs, H.G. Wells and Charles Dickens Create Suspense in their Gothic Horror Stories
It is clear that the author, Roald Dahl, utilizes a variety of literary devices in order to create an element of suspense in the text, “The Landlady.” An example of this would be Dahl’s use of foreshadowing in the text. The Landlady states in the text, “But my dear boy, he never left. He’s still here. Mr. Temple is also here. They’re on the fourth floor, both of them together” (Dahl 5). It is evident how this would contribute to the component of suspense for the reader. The use of foreshadowing throughout “The Landlady” is meant to hint towards Billy’s impending doom, and thus would compel readers to anticipate Billy’s fate, creating suspense. Foreshadowing contributes a great deal to the dark humor/mysterious aspect of Dahl’s style of writing.
This story, although somewhat unique in its exact plot, contains many elements that make it a typical and traditional ghost story. These elements suggest common fears in today’s society of people in general, and children specifically.
The author selects techniques of diction such as connotation, repetition, and onomatopoeia, to establish the fear is the overall excerpt. He manipulates connotation to enhance the mood. As the character is driven about the midnight landscape by the mysterious coachman, he notices the “frowning rocks” hanging over the road, a “ghostly flicker” of blue light which he cannot explain and off in the distance the “long agonized wailing” of dogs. The word “frowning” allows us to see that this is no happy setting, even the rock that cannot feel is frowning and not smiling. The author uses the word ghostly to describe the flicker of light. Light usually portrays a saving or some sign of hope. By using ghostly as a descriptive word, he makes it seem supernatural or like it’s faintly there. If he wanted this to be a sign of hope he could have worded it a flickering light, but he did not causing the character to feel fright and no hope. The utilization of repetition by Stoker applies reinforcement to the atmosphere. Throughout the excerpt the narrator continues intensifying the effects by also repeating phrases such as “another and another.” By repeating these words the reader is being reminded of the alien emotions and surroundings of such a strange place. The use of intensifying repetition strengthens the negative connotation words following directly before or afte...
The first element Edgar used the most in his short stories is horror. Horror is an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting. As you are reading his poems his description often make so that you begin to feel the pain and sorrow that is happening. In his story “The Fall of the House o...