Gothic literature is characterized by the suspense that comes from not knowing what will happen next in a story. Great Gothic writers like Edgar Allan Poe go beyond simple techniques like starting stories with a description of a dark and stormy night. Poe's effective narrative choices, such as withholding information and controlling pace, develop the narrator's character and create suspense in his gothic story "The Black Cat." Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Withholding information is the first way Poe creates suspense. At the beginning of the story, the narrator clearly addresses the audience, as if he already knows us, even if we haven't met him yet. He tells us that he is not crazy and then says: "But tomorrow I die, and today I would like to lighten my soul." This statement is so extreme that every reader immediately wonders why the narrator will die. How could the narrator know this? is he executed? Is execution the right way to deal with crimes, especially by people who show signs of mental illness? Couldn't society develop a more compassionate way of treating people in the narrator's position? None of these questions are answered until much later in the story. To find out why the narrator thinks he will die the following day, the now curious reader must continue reading. Eventually, the narrator confirms that he was “delivered. . . to the executioner." Poe effectively controls the pace of the story to also create suspense. Whenever the action becomes intense or the narrator becomes excited or violent, the sentences are short or very choppy, with numerous short sentences connected by commas. When Poe wants to create the illusion that time passes more slowly; use longer, more complex sentences that need to be read more carefully and slowly. As the pace slows, the suspense builds and we begin to wonder when things will fall apart again for the narrator. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Personally, I think it's strange that people lump gothic stories into one category. If you know something is gothic; you know it's going to be suspenseful, which reduces the suspense because you know the suspense is coming. Even so, Poe creates a lot of suspense in the story by using more complex narrative devices and choices than setting the story on a stormy night in a haunted house or a medieval castle. It retains information, carefully controls the pace, and ends on an eerie note to add suspense. These narrative choices are so effective that we are still reading Poe's stories (and being drawn and scared to death by them) more than 150 years after they were first published...