How Does August Heat By W. F. Harvey Use Of Suspense

In the short story “August Heat” by W.F. Harvey, there are many different ways suspense was used. When an author tries to use suspense in a novel or a short story, book, magazine article, etc., the usual ways it shows is, mystery, foreshadowing, and plot twist such as sudden changes in the mood or story. These are usually the key things to making a suspenseful story.

Mystery in stories are always fun and interesting because you never know what is going to happen next. “I rolled up the sketch, and without quite knowing why, placed it in my pocket. Then with the rare sense of happiness which the knowledge of a good thing well done gives, I left the house.” (Harvey). Here he writes how he draws a picture and he does not know exactly why, but he just so happens to feel the need to put that little piece of paper with that drawing inside his pocket, and then feels glad that he did so. That is a tad bit mysterious. …show more content…
There was something unnatural, uncanny, in meeting this man. I tried at first to persuade myself that I had seen him before, that his face, unknown to me, had found a place in some out-of-the-way corner of my memory, but I knew that I was practicing little more than a plausible piece of self-deception.” (Harvey) He feels like he knows this man and there’s a reason why but he just has not found it yet.

Foreshadowing is a big part of suspenseful stories. It lets the reader know that there is something about to happen before it actually happens. Let’s say that in a story someone happens to say “The winter is coming.”, which could mean that there might be a death coming in the near future. The drawing for example in “August Heat” is foreshadowing the fact that he is going to be meeting the man in the drawing in the near future, which he in fact