The Adventure of the Speckled Band Essay Example for Free

The Adventure of the Speckled Band Essay I read through two quite different short stories, continually considering how they both created suspense (anxious uncertainty, or expectation, or waiting for information) and tension (mental strain or excitement) and more importantly how I could compare the two, considering both similar and divergent parts in the stories. The first short story I examined was The stolen Bacillus. The title itself creates suspense, because of the word stolen. When something is stolen, you always expect a chase or investigation into finding the stolen item, and the word Bacillus (a single bacterium) this would prompt the reader to think of the stereotypical idea of bacteria- tiny green creatures that appear in films and cartoons. Therefore from the title, the reader is urged to read on and find out why it has been stolen, who has taken it and if it is going to be recovered. In the opening paragraphs of the story, a pale-faced man is inside the office of the bacteriologist. Wells refers to this man as the visitor, confirming that he is not known to the bacteriologist, leaving him at this point in the story totally anonymous. Wells describes the visitor in great detail, particularly concentrating on his physical attributes. Examples of this are he held a limp white hand over his disengaged eye. These particular details help to develop this feeling of suspense and tension, as our idea of the visitor now, is that he is rather creepy and sinister. What follows this is a very important line from the visitor: And yet those little particles, those mere atomies, might multiply and devastate a city. This captures the feeling of the plot entirely, the reader is now wondering why the twisted and sadistic visitor is there after all. These anarchist rascals. Perhaps at this point, the visitor was going to tell the bacteriologist what his real aim was. But before he can do so, the wife of the scientist (Minnie) knocks on the office door- a perfect opportunity for the visitor to take the Bacillus (cholera). At this point, the reader can now decide whether the visitor will take it or not. This draws us into the story, as well as building up a great deal of tension. After this, comes the most exciting and fast part of the story- the chase. The bacteriologist has realised that his visitor has stolen the bacillus, so he pulls up a horse-drawn cab and begins the chase. A lot of tension and suspense is built up in this scene; firstly the pace of the story picks up because of the use of Shorter words/sentences, Wells uses this technique to increase the overall excitement of the chase scene. Words that create this are: gesticulating wildly, mad, hastily and swished. The other cockney cab men are commentating on the chase, making it seem like a horse race on the radio or television, which adds to the excitement. Harry Hicks (the visitors cab driver) was using his whip, which was very surprising as it states that cab drivers never normally used their whips. This also adds to this exciting, tense atmosphere. Minnie then picks up a cab and starts to chase the others. The behaviour of the other cab drivers then begin to change they become really excited and start shouting remarks out. It is at this point in the story in which Wells now refers to the visitor as the Anarchist, earlier on in the story, he was calling anarchists Rascals. Towards the end of the chase, the anarchist reveals what his motives for stealing the bacillus were. This is the result of a lot of tension, as this is the first time we know why he has stolen from the bacteriologist. At the end of the chase, when the Phial breaks, the feeling of the story becomes very sorrowful, as the anarchist believes he is going to die, and more importantly, so does the reader. But the actions of the casualty become quite sinister once again, as he starts to laugh and states, anyhow, I shall be a martyr. There is a lot of suspense at this point of the story, coming from the fact that he is laughing when he shouldnt be. Throughout the chase scene, the bacteriologist had been extremely worried, but at the end we find out that the so called cholera is actually a substance that turns animals blue, and the reader sees the bacteriologist laugh it off, and the only factor he worries about is the fact that hell have to make some more. The reason why Wells did so well creating the Suspense and Tension in his story, is the fact that he left it until the very end to let the reader know what the bacillus really was. The second Short story I read was The Adventure of the Speckled Band, which is based around Sherlock Holmes and his partner Watson trying to solve the murder of a young lady. What I believe made this story really worth reading, is the fact that Conan Doyle wrote it from Watsons point of view. Where as The Stolen Bacillus was written in third persons point of view, which in my opinion isnt as effective as Conan Doyles first person view. My reason for this, is the story can be made a lot more descriptive, and that it draws the reader into the story as it makes them feel as though they are in the story as a lot more personal words are used: we, you, they etc