The Catbird Seat Essay

Taking into a closer look, suspense in “The Catbird Seat” is first introduced in the beginning of the story, and continues to thrive throughout. Readers are immediately engaged into the story when Mr. Marin buys a pack of Camel cigarettes under the condition that he “did not smoke, and never had.” (212) Mr. Martin who never smokes, goes to the “most crowded” cigar store, expects no one will see him. This instantly forms a striking impact which provokes the curiosity of the readers. 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 again amplifies the interest of the readers while carrying the readers to the climax of the story as Mr. Martin …show more content…
It first comes in contact with 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” (227) indirectly indicates the tragic ending of Tessie’s life. Furthermore, names of the characters in the story, Mr. Graves and Mrs. Delacroix, are example that contributes to foreshadow for the tragic ending. “Mr. Graves” connects to an image of graveyard, a hint towards the dark unknown and “Mrs. Delacroix”, the ending croix sounds similar to the word “cross”, a harmony of death. “The black box grew shabbier each year” refers 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 understand the tradition of the lottery. Foreshadowing in “The Lottery” develops gradually in the story, to give hints along the story and captive the readers’ attention to wonder the clues that lead to such a devastating

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Essay On The Catbird Seat