How does H.G Wells create suspense in The Cone? Essay -- English Liter

How does H.G Wells create suspense in The Cone? There are numerous techniques that an author can use to create interest and suspense when writing a gothic story. Examples of these are short sentences, pathetic fallacy, and emotive language. However Wells then goes on to combine this with a romantic element, and incorporates a crime of passion into the story. So not only does Wells use the gothic genre and its techniques to create tension, but also that of the romantic genre. This story is written in the third person, which works superbly as it gives an overview of the opinions of all the characters and their thoughts. For instance Wells writes, ‘She had an impulse to warn him in an undertone, but she could not frame a word. â€Å"Don’t go!† and â€Å"Beware of him!† struggled in her mind, and the moment passed.’ This technique allows us to connect with more than one of the characters and understand the different points of view, and feelings emerging from them. In a way it prevents the reader from becoming overly bias, because they can see situations from more than one persons perspective. The story starts with a description, using long sentences and scores of adjectives, ‘The night was hot and overcast, the sky red, rimmed with the lingering sunset of midsummer†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ This sets the scene in a serene way that leads the reader into a false sense of security, a beautiful night with two lovers talking in lowered voices. However on reading the story retrospectively the opening paragraph could be viewed differently. The sky could be interpreted as angry, or brooding. It could be ominously setting the scene for things to come, it already informs us that the story is set a night, could this be the first gothic element to... ...e word cone is mentioned over twenty times and is featured in the title. Therefore I think that Wells really wants us to take notice of this and start speculating on how this affects the end of the story, of course, once read we discover that the cone is actually the piece of machinery that kills Raut, and finishes the story. At the very end of the story Horrocks’ conscience comes back to him and he says, ‘Oh god! What have I done?’ This shows that he is not a cold-hearted murderer and it shows the reader that perhaps normally he would have been a nice man, but under the circumstances was pushed to do something he wouldn’t have normally done. In conclusion it appears that Wells uses many gothic styles throughout the story to increase tension. He uses description, long sentences, passion, and betrayal. This creates a very gothic and interesting story.