Catbird Seat Suspense

Taking into a closer look, suspense in “The Catbird Seat” is first introduced in the beginning of the story, and continues to thrive throughout. Audiences are immediately engaged into the story when Mr. Marin brought a pack of Camel cigarettes under the condition that he “did not smoke, and never had.” (212) Mr. Martin who never smokes went to the “most crowded” cigar store, and expecting no one will saw him, ironically forms a striking impact which provokes the curiosity of the audience. Thurber uses a sneaky yet fast pace tone to bring suspense into the story and magnifies it with the term “rub out,” which refers to Mr. Martin’s “correction” plan. The unknown mystery of such drastic measure amplifies the interest of the reader while carrying the reader to the climax of the story as Mr. Martin searching for weapon in Mrs. Barrows’s apartment. The absence …show more content…
It first comes into the story with an innocent play as children gather piles of stones at the corner of the town square. The unexplained action of children stuffing their pockets full of stones indirectly indicates the tragic ending of Tessie’s life. Names of the characters in the story, Mr. Graves and Mrs. Delacroix, devote a deeper understanding to the tragedy. Mr. Graves connects to an image of graveyard, a hint towards the dark unknown and Mrs. Delacroix, the ending croix sound familiar with the word cross, a harmony of death. “The black box grew shabbier each year,” referring to the forgotten knowledge of the tradition as one generation pass onto the next. Moreover, the colour black shows the clouded vision of the villagers, not able to see and understands the tradition of the lottery. Foreshadowing in the lottery develops gradually in the story, giving hints along the story to captive the reader’s attention to wonder the clues that leads to such a devastating

Show More

Related Documents: Catbird Seat Suspense

The Catbird Seat Essay