Cujo Stephen King Analysis

In the novel Cujo, author Stephen King uses third-person limited point of view to enhance the level of suspense in the story. Third-person limited point of view is when an author focuses on one person’s feelings while the other characters are only there externally. In the novel Cujo, the author Stephen King uses Donna as the main focus to enhance the level of suspense. At the beginning of the novel, Donna sees a dog and responds by thinking “But oh my”. The author puts this as a short line in the story. This makes it seem like the time is passing by quickly. This also creates suspense because the audience will be wondering why she is thinking “But oh my”. Is it because she saw something or is it because she did something? A few seconds later,

she thinks “Blood, is that”. This tells me that she sees something, and thinks that she is seeing blood. We now know that she is looking at blood, but she doesn’t know that the dog soaked with blood is trying to kill her.
Furthermore, towards the middle of the novel while she is trying to escape from Cujo she thinks, “I’ll never be able to get that door open and get in [the car] and get it shut.” This creates suspense because we know that she will have to find a way to get in the car in such a short amount of time or her life would be over.
After she gets in the car, Donna remembered that it is not only her in this life-threatening situation but her son Tad is also there. “When she saw him, a new fear invaded her, drilling like a hot needle.” This creates suspense because not only is Cujo trying to attack her, but Tad needs immediate attention.
As you can see Stephen King uses Donna’s thoughts, feelings and the events that are happening in the story, while she is processing things in her brain (to make it seem like Donna is taking a long time to think, so the bloody dog will catch up to her quicker). This creates more suspense to the story.