Mystery Stories Essays

  • Mystery and Suspense in Dickens' Short Story The Signalman

    506 Words  | 2 Pages

    sixty one is believed to have inspired Dickens to write the short story the Signalman. During the time that Dickens was writing the Victorians had a fixation with the paranormal also there were many technological advances one of them being the steam train. The Signalman has two main characters in it, one is the narrator who speaks in first person, and the other is the Signalman. Neither man is named throughout the story. The story has three main incidents which the Signalman claims that he had been

  • And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    Torquay at that time and that experience was useful later on. The book:  I recently read a mystery book by the name of "And Then They Were None" by Agatha Christie.  I read this book because a lot of people that read Agatha Christie’s books recommended them to me and because I like mystery stories.  One of the mysteries to this book was, of course, who killed all of the innocent people.  Another mystery was that every time another person was killed a little Indian figure would disappear from the

  • Lavender

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lavender Lavender is a mystery that unfolds in a way not atypical of other mystery stories, but sets itself apart by defying certain characteristics and conventions. There are many details to the plot (mainly to the descriptions of the characters) that are unexpected and deny the reader a chance to confirm their stereotypes about who a detective is, how they should act, and what they should look like. Specifically, in the role of the unconventional protagonist (detective?), Easy Rawlins is so

  • The Mystery of Pearl in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Mystery of Pearl in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter Among many nuances present in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, is the mystery of Pearl. This mystery is never actually in the real person of Pearl, but in the child she appears to be. At times, the townspeople and even Pearl’s mother, herself, call Pearl the demon-child, a fiend, and a torturer. Hester feels Pearl’s purpose on earth is to torture her but at the same time to be her joy. In reality, Pearl is a normal child, except for the fact

  • The Ways in Which Wilkie Collins Builds Up a Sense of Mystery and Suspense in His Short Stories

    1519 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Ways in Which Wilkie Collins Builds Up a Sense of Mystery and Suspense in His Short Stories In this essay I will examine the ways in which Wilkie Collins builds up mystery in suspense in three stories; 'A Terribly Strange Bed', 'The Black Cottage' and 'The Ostler'. I will closely compare these stories in four sections; language for description, characterisation, sentence structure and overall structure, using suitable evidence from the text to support these ideas. ================

  • The Heroes Curiosity in She and The Sign of Four

    1911 Words  | 4 Pages

    the mystery, but attempting to solve the mystery poses dangers to the protagonists that, at first, they are unaware of.  The curious mind, seeking discovery, eventually sees the dangers but does not turn back.  The mystery has become an obsession to the curious mind, and for the curious mind, solving the mystery has become more important than self-preservation.  However, without the obsessive curiosity and without the danger that follows that curiosity, there would be no heroes in the story and,

  • Lord Of The Flies - Setting

    674 Words  | 2 Pages

    the actions and attitudes of the characters. Setting is the defined in literature as where the story takes place. In Lord of the Flies, the setting is on a deserted tropical island in the middle of the ocean, where a microcosm is able to be established. Three specific examples of how setting influenced the actions and attitudes of the characters are: The isolation from a civilized world, the mysteries of an unfamiliar place, and different social types being forced to live with one another. How these

  • Profound Secret and Mystery in A Tale of Two Cities

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

    Profound Secret and Mystery in A Tale of Two Cities The twists and turns of Charles Dickens's classic novel, A Tale of Two Cities, lead the reader from a quiet beginning to a violently shocking climax, after introducing dozens of complex characters and two very different plots that converge with a sickening crash of La Guillotine. Many of the characters in the story appear to be one-sided in the beginning, but as the plot continues, it reveals that "every human creature is constituted to

  • Romanticism

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    ROMANTICISM In the nineteenth century, the foundation of American literature had a profound change. This was called from Reason to Romance or Romanticism. With many contributions of famous writers such as Irving, Cooper, Bryant, and Poe composed the stories and poems which all of them had a great value in the American literature. What is the Romanticism and how dies it effect to the American literature? By taking some compositions from these writers, there will be good answers for those questions. According

  • Mystery Surrounding the Phoenix Lights: Evidence of UFO Sighting?

    1811 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mystery Surrounding the Phoenix Lights: Evidence of UFO Sighting? Abstract The events that occurred in Phoenix on March 13, 1997 still have the world at a loss. A triangle (boomerang) shaped craft with seven lights on the main body and one trailing behind the rest appeared over Phoenix. Some believe that they were just flares used by the military, but others think that it was definitely extraterrestrial. Much evidence has been found, but the mystery remains. On March 13, 1997, an inexplicable

  • Comparing Piety in The Wakefield Mystery Plays, The Book of Margery Kempe, and Le Morte D'Arthur

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    in The Wakefield Mystery Plays, The Book of Margery Kempe, and Le Morte D'Arthur The monastic lifestyle that Launcelot and his knights adopt after their conversion is one that Margery Kempe might approve of -- doing penance, singing mass, fasting, and remaining abstinent. (MdA, 525) But Launcelot's change of heart is not motivated by the emotions that move Kempe, nor is his attitude towards God the same as can be found in The Book of Margery Kempe and The Wakefield Mystery Plays. In the Wakefield

  • EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

    2116 Words  | 5 Pages

    complex civilizations of the world. Their religion and beliefs are fascinating and have been a mystery for centuries. Even today, there are some things that we still do not understand. In this research, I will investigate the basic concepts of Egyptian mythology and its gods. Mythology is defined as a collection of interrelated stories of a given culture. Myths are intended to explain and describe the mysteries of nature and give understanding about the world that surrounds us. Each culture has their

  • The Use of Mystery in Two 'Dubliners' Stories

    1190 Words  | 3 Pages

    'Don't you think there is a certain resemblance between the mystery of the Mass and what I am trying to do? I mean that I am trying ... to give people some kind of intellectual pleasure or spiritual enjoyment by converting the bread of everyday life into something that has a permanent artistic life of its own...for their mental, moral, and spiritual uplift.' (1) In fact, Joyce's efforts to illuminate some of the inscrutable mysteries of life by isolating apparently commonplace incidents or objects

  • The Guide Dog Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

    1483 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Guide Dog Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner Benny - He is one of the Alden children. He is six years old.. Jessie - She is one of the Alden children. She is twelve years old. Henry - He is one of the Alden children. He is 14 years old. Violet –She is one of the Alden children. She is ten years old. Grandfather Alden – He is the grandfather of the Alden children. They live with him. Jason Peters – He is a trainer at the Greenfield Guide Dog School. Mrs. Carter – She is the owner

  • Alan Turning: A Sad Mystery

    1970 Words  | 4 Pages

    Alan Turning: A Sad Mystery “The original question, ‘Can machines think?’ I believe to be too meaningless to deserve discussion. Nevertheless I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted…. The popular view that scientists proceed inexorably from well-established fact to well-established fact, never being influenced by any improved conjecture

  • The Mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke

    2870 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke It was the age of discovery that first provoked intrigue and curiosity of new lands, particularly the Americas, and how the Europeans could expand to fit their society within the borders of this unknown and unexplored land. By the 1580s, more had been learned about the Americas, but any colonization until this point had not even been attempted. And so it was the English, under Queen Elizabeth I's rule, that were issued to establish a colony along the

  • Shakespeare's Macbeth - The Mystery of Third Murderer

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    Macbeth:  The Mystery of Third Murderer Shakespeare's play Macbeth incorporates many elements of mystery.  In particular, the mystery surrounding the identity of the Third Murderer in (III, iii, 79), which oddly enough has thirty-three lines in it, is a topic of debate in many conversations about Macbeth. The focus of this paper is on the identity of the Third Murderer and the facts and restrictions on the people suspected. Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Ross, and the Weird Sisters all have surfaced as

  • The African Experience: A Curse or Blessing

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    the Sahara Desert. Therefore, the great river is considered a miracle, a miracle from the gods, given in order that man may continue to exist and not be annihilated. Hence the magnificence of the Temple of Isis. African peoples had a lot of mysteries in their continent which they tried to explain. And once again, they turned to their superiors in the supernatural world, the gods. For example, if lightning should strike, that would be an ominous sight, implying that the gods are angry with

  • Exploring Emotion

    3320 Words  | 7 Pages

    Emotions have developed along with the sophistication of the brain as an organ throughout the process of evolution. Instinctive feelings necessary for survival, such as thirst, hunger, and sex drive, are the oldest and most primitive “emotions”, and they are present in many non-human creatures. The monitoring systems in an animal’s body send signals to the brain when the body is in need of food or water, and this triggers the firing of neurons that in turn advise the creature to search for these

  • The Continuing Mystery of SIDS

    3211 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Continuing Mystery of SIDS Sudden infant death syndrome ( SIDS) is the greatest cause of infant deaths ranging from ages one month to one year. Most of these deaths occur before the age of six months. Normally, any unexplainable infant death is considered to be due to SIDS. Numerous attempts have been made to discover the exact cause of this syndrome. However,the only known pathology is that SIDS is due to a dysfunction or abnormality in the cardiac and/or respiratory systems. To this point