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Hana Utama

Ms. Starry

English 9H

17, September 2016

Imagery-What Really Creates Suspense

The eerie silence of the forest was shattered by a shrill scream, she turned around and

saw a dark figure slowly walking towards her, she could hear each footstep coming closer and

closer clunk,clunk,clunk, the man came closer. He was so close that she could feel him breathing.

Then he went away. When the reader feels as if they are there with the characters the author has

created suspense using imagery. Literary-device.com defines imagery as the author using words

and phrases to create mental images for the reader. Authors use imagery to bring the reader into

the story and to create suspense. In And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, The Most

Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, and The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe the

literary device imagery has a huge impact in creating suspense.

In The Most Dangerous Game by Robert Connell imagery has the biggest impact in

creating suspense. The story is about a big-game hunter named Rainsford that falls off his yacht

and swims to an island where he is hunted by a Russian aristocrat named General Zaroff. When

Rainsford falls off his boat the author describes the yacht speeding away from him and its now

shown that he is stranded stranded, The lights of the yacht became faint and ever-vanishing

fireflies; then they were blotted out entirely by night (Connell 2). In this scene it becomes

apparent to Rainsford that the yacht will not be coming back and that he must find land before he

loses energy and drowns. When Rainsford swims to a nearby island, he finds a beautiful mansion
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set on a high bluff. There he meets General Zaroff and is invited to stay and eat dinner. Over

dinner Rainsford discovers that Zaroff is a very skilled hunter and has become bored with

hunting animals. Zaroff has a twisted meaning of living on earth stating, Life is for the strong,

to be lived by the strong, and, if it needs be, taken by the strong (Connell 8). The next day

Rainsford is forced to play Zaroffs hunting game where Rainsford is the prey and Zaroff is the

predator, and Rainsford is to avoid being caught by Zaroff. The author describes a tense scene

when Rainsford encounters a swamp and quicksand to hide from Zaroff, His hands were tight

closed as if his nerves were something tangible that someone in the darkness was trying to tear

from his grip (Connell 13).This scene creates suspense because the reader is left wondering

what Rainsford will do next to survive. In The Most Dangerous Game imagery has contributed

greatly. Without imagery the story would lack the spice that keeps the story interesting.

In The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe imagery has a big part in creating

suspense. The is about a character named Montresor who has planned a great revenge on

Fortunato who insulted his prided family name, when Fortunato least expects it Montresor

executes his grand scheme. Imagery is widely used in Edgar Allan Poe to create dark, gory

scenes in his stories; using imagery he is able to create suspense that will leave the readers on the

edge of their seats. In The Cask of Amontillado Montresor lures Fortunato to his family's cellar

and taste the fine wine, Amontillado. In the evening Montresor led Fortunato deep into his cellar

giving him glasses of other fine wines, before he could carry out his revenge. Montresor finally

lead him into a small room that was three feet wide and six to seven feet tall, Before Fortunato

could guess what was happening I closed the lock and chained him tightly to the wall (Poe 71).

This example of imagery leaves the reader to wonder what Montresor would do to Fortunato,

because they still do not know his plan. After this Montresor quickly hurries to seal the tiny room
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with rocks from under the bone piles to trap Fortunato. Once Fortunato starts to sober up he

realizes what Montresor has in plan for him, I could hear him pulling at the chain, shaking it

wildly. Only a few stones remained to put in their place. (Poe 72). After finishing sealing the

wall Montresor claims that no one including himself has been to the cellar in fifty years. In this

story imagery is used to create sickening scenes; without imagery it wouldnt have left the reader

in suspense.

In And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie imagery had a big part in creating

suspense. The book is about ten people going to an island and when they arrive there they are

accused of murder; one by one each of the characters died leaving behind a mystery to

detectives. Later a bottle washes up shore and in it the murderer confesses to all of his crimes.

The death of the characters were on the nursery rhyme Ten Little Soldier Boys. Towards the

end of the book two characters find one of their friends dead on the shore,A purple discolored

face-a hideous drowned face(Christie 259). Using this the author created an image in the

readers mind of the horrible death of Dr. Armstrong. The imagery in this book was mostly used

to describe the deaths of the characters. For example when Justice Wargrave died he was set up

to look like a judge, Justice Wargrave was sitting in his high-based chair at the end of the room.

Two candles burned on either side of him. But what shocked and startled the onlookers was the

fact that he sat there robed in scarlet with a judge's wig upon his head (Christie 222). This

scene was significant to the book because before Wargrave died he was leading the other

characters to find the suspected killer. Imagery is important to this story because without it the

deaths of the characters wouldnt carry as much significance as it should have.

Imagery is a key aspect in creating suspense, without it stories wouldnt have been as

suspenseful. In these stories imagery helps the author relate to the readers by appealing to their
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senses letting them experience a scene for themselves. By appealing to these senses the author

can create suspense. In the first paragraph imagery is used to help the reader imagine that they

are in the forest experiencing the mysterious man coming towards them. Imagery has a powerful

impact that takes the reader to an imaginary place without actually leaving. Some people claim

that reading takes them to a completely different place and lets them experience something

entirely new. Without imagery writing and reading wouldnt be exciting and instead it would just

be words on a paper.

Works Cited Page

Christie, Agatha. And Then There Were None. New York, Harper, 2011.

Connell, Richard Edward. The Most Dangerous Game. Mankato, MN, Creative

Education, 2011.
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Imagery. Literary Devices, 2010, http://literary-devices.com/content/imagery.

Poe, Edgar Allan. The Cask of Amontillado. Mankato, MN, Creative Education, 1980.