How Does W. F. Harvey Use Of Suspense

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A portrayal of suspense Suspense is usually used by writers in horror and mystery stories as a way to keep the readers interested in the book. August Heat by W.F. Harvey is a short mystery story that keeps the reader into the book by keeping suspense in the story. The story is about a man named James Clarence who appears to have a very normal day as he finds a man who looks exactly like the drawing he made and a gravestone made for him. Throughout the story, W.F. Harvey creates suspense using several methods such using the mysterious setting of a hot day in August,t he abnormal to have the reader question the story, and foreshadows that cause the reader to keep going. First the setting plays a very important role to the suspense. James Clarence describes the day as being ¨oppressively hot in the room even though the doors and windows were open¨(17-18). The story may not even exist without the heat because since it was so hot. He decided that the coolest and most comfortable place would be the public swimming pool bath(19-20). Which led James to then draw a sketch of the man he later meets. If it wasn't for the heat James probably wouldn't¨ have stumbled into the Monumental Mason where he met Chas Atkinson. The heat could have even drove Chas mad to where he killed James and so that's why he made the gravestone and he might been …show more content…

James Clarence decided one day to sketch out an image that is constantly shows in his head of a ¨enormously fat¨(26) man ready to be sentenced to prison. He walks into a ¨monumental mason’s workplace¨( and feels a sudden silence and as he notices that “it was the man he had been drawing”(63). The fact that the man greeted him “smiling, as if [they were old friends” causes the reader to feel the suspense of the unusual meeting (67-68). The familiarity between the two characters is a mystery and even as they try and figure it out it is obvious they have never met

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