McEwan’s popular and critically acclaimed novel Enduring Love has a way of capturing the reader through the author’s effective ways of creating ‘intrigue’ and ‘suspense’. He does this by withholding information, foreshadowing, using cliffhangers and through his use of language, bringing the reader to continue reading. These techniques turn the novel Enduring Love into a compelling page-turner, and this essay will explore how ‘intrigue’ and ‘suspense’ is created through these within the first chapter.
In the first few sentences of chapter one, the reader learns that longtime-lovers Clarissa and Joe are on an idyllic picnic “... in sunlight under a turkey oak, partly protected from a strong, gusty wind.” When Joe hears a man shout he runs to …show more content…
Again in chapter 2 Jed Parry’s obsession is indicated “He was excited, but no one could have ever guesses to what extent”. In the very end of chapter 3, Parry calls Joe and confesses his love “I feel it to. I love you”, and the reader is then left with a cliffhanger “... but I know I made my first serious mistake” referring to that he did not tell Clarissa that it was Parry who called. McEwan uses cliffhangers to create suspense all throughout the novel. Another example of a cliffhanger is when Joe, in the first chapter, finally begins to explain what catastrophe he had been hinting about since the very start, “At the base of the balloon…. was a man in need of help”. He then changes the subject without giving the reader the entire story with the next paragraph describing a completely different event, compelling the reader to read further. The use of cliffhangers encourages readers to emerge themselves into the story further and deepen their connections to the characters, in order to be able to speculate on the outcome of what is yet to
In the first few sentences of chapter one, the reader learns that longtime-lovers Clarissa and Joe are on an idyllic picnic “... in sunlight under a turkey oak, partly protected from a strong, gusty wind.” When Joe hears a man shout he runs to …show more content…
Again in chapter 2 Jed Parry’s obsession is indicated “He was excited, but no one could have ever guesses to what extent”. In the very end of chapter 3, Parry calls Joe and confesses his love “I feel it to. I love you”, and the reader is then left with a cliffhanger “... but I know I made my first serious mistake” referring to that he did not tell Clarissa that it was Parry who called. McEwan uses cliffhangers to create suspense all throughout the novel. Another example of a cliffhanger is when Joe, in the first chapter, finally begins to explain what catastrophe he had been hinting about since the very start, “At the base of the balloon…. was a man in need of help”. He then changes the subject without giving the reader the entire story with the next paragraph describing a completely different event, compelling the reader to read further. The use of cliffhangers encourages readers to emerge themselves into the story further and deepen their connections to the characters, in order to be able to speculate on the outcome of what is yet to