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Horror and Suspense: Genre Review Essay
Edgar Allan Poe uses addition and omission techniques in his storytelling in order to create a suspense genre instead of horror. The latter form of storytelling focuses on causing the emotion of fear among the readers or viewers, whereas suspense builds a certain amount of anticipation and full engagement in the story. Poe uses omission, where he purposefully dismisses some essential information in order to generate a gap in knowledge. By not explaining the motive of the murder, he allows his readers to have the freedom to contemplate and speculate the reasons for themselves.
For example, Poe writes, “A moment more, and I had fettered him to the granite” (Poe). Most of his writing simply describes the details of the events occurring in the surrounding environment, whereas the writer omits critical information on the explanation of motives and reasons behind the given circumstances. In addition, Poe uses addition techniques, where he adds vital details in the storyline, which increases the number of questions asked by the readers. For example, the author writes, “It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close” (Poe). It is one of the many examples of addition used in the story.
The given form of technique enriches the storytelling process by adding seemingly unnecessary but describing details. In both cases, the writer creates an atmosphere of fear. In the first case, this arises from the mystery of the locus and the sensation of unknowingness and uncertainty of the hero in the world. In the second case, fear emerges from the understanding of the fragility of reality and the human body and mind. Therefore, it is critical to adhere to omission and addition techniques in order to create a horror story with a great deal of suspense.
Work Cited
Poe, Edgar A. “The Cask of Amontillado.” ThePoeMuseum, 1847. Web.
