Robert Cormier creates suspense in the opening of We All Fall Down through the employment of multiple positioning devices. To create a thriller – like atmosphere, Cormier uses a safe setting, an omniscient third person narrator’s clinical language and simple dialogue with a disturbing undertone. The upper middle-class, suburban setting of Cape Cod creates suspense in the opening of the novel through juxtaposition against the violent and heinous acts of the Trashers. “they pissed on the walls and trashed their way through the seven-room Cape Cod cottage,” (pg.1) The juxtaposition of the Cape Cod setting and the acts of the trashers, shocks the reader, as it is an unexpected and confronting event for such a safe and family orientated town. Cormier
