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 went beyond simple techniques like beginning their stories with descriptions of a dark and stormy night. Poe's effective narrative choices, such as withholding information and controlling pacing, 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 Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Withholding information is the first way Poe creates suspense. At the beginning of the story, the narrator is clearly addressing an audience, as if he already knows us, even if we haven't met him yet. He tells us that he is not crazy, then he says: “But tomorrow I die, and today I would relieve my soul. » This statement is so extreme that any reader immediately wonders why the narrator is going to die. How could the narrator know this? is it being executed? Is execution the right way to deal with crimes, especially those committed by people with 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 next day, the now curious reader must continue reading. At the end, the narrator confirms that he was “consigned.” . . 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 either short or very choppy, with many short sentences connected by commas. When Poe wants to create the illusion that time passes more slowly; it uses longer, more complex sentences that must be read more carefully and more slowly. As the pace slows, the suspense builds and we begin to wonder when things will fall apart again for the narrator. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article 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. Despite this, Poe creates a lot of suspense in the story by using more complex narrative tools and choices and then simply setting the story in a stormy night in a haunted house or medieval castle. He withholds information, carefully controls the pacing, and ends on a scary note to add suspense. These narrative choices are so effective that we still read Poe's stories (and were drawn to and frightened by them) more than 150 years after they were first published..