The Whole Town Sleeping, Tension Building 
The Whole Town’s Sleeping
‘It was a warm summer night in the middle of the Illinois country. The little town was deep far away from everything, kept to itself by a river and a forest and a ravine.’ So begins the ominous story by Ray Bradbury called ‘The Whole Town’s Sleeping’ revolving around a serial killer called the Lonely One who murders only single pretty women and Lavinia Nebbs, hus next victim being reckless and uncautious. Ray Bradbury, with his use of vivid description, manipulation of time and exposing and developing the protagonist’s flaw manages to create an atmosphere fraught with curiosity and fear whilst building up a lot of tension as the story progresses on.
Ray Bradbury’s use of vivid description plays a vital role in building up suspense. An example of his use of vivid description is ‘... And the world was gone, the world of safe people in bed. The locked doors, the town, the drugstore, everything was gone. Only the ravine existed and lives, black huge and about her’. Ray Bradbury’s vivid description of Lavinia’s surroundings makes it seem more alive and makes the reader feel like Lavinia is being watched (‘only the ravine existed and lives, black huge and about her’) by something or someone, suggesting that something bad is going to happen to her and inevitably building up a lot of tension. With his use of descriptive language Bradbury also manages to isolate Lavinia (‘And the world was gone, the world of safe people in bed. The locked doors, the town, the drugstore, everything was gone’) making her feel more vulnerable and again more likely to have something happen to her thus also building up tension.
Ray Bradbury also creates tension by the way he manipulates and portrays time. ‘The crickets were suddenly still…summer night trees suspending in motion. Leaf, Shrub, star and meadowgrass had ceased their particular tremors and were listening to Lavinia Nebbs heart’, by making everything seem still and giving a steady clocklike sound (Lavinia’s
‘It was a warm summer night in the middle of the Illinois country. The little town was deep far away from everything, kept to itself by a river and a forest and a ravine.’ So begins the ominous story by Ray Bradbury called ‘The Whole Town’s Sleeping’ revolving around a serial killer called the Lonely One who murders only single pretty women and Lavinia Nebbs, hus next victim being reckless and uncautious. Ray Bradbury, with his use of vivid description, manipulation of time and exposing and developing the protagonist’s flaw manages to create an atmosphere fraught with curiosity and fear whilst building up a lot of tension as the story progresses on.
Ray Bradbury’s use of vivid description plays a vital role in building up suspense. An example of his use of vivid description is ‘... And the world was gone, the world of safe people in bed. The locked doors, the town, the drugstore, everything was gone. Only the ravine existed and lives, black huge and about her’. Ray Bradbury’s vivid description of Lavinia’s surroundings makes it seem more alive and makes the reader feel like Lavinia is being watched (‘only the ravine existed and lives, black huge and about her’) by something or someone, suggesting that something bad is going to happen to her and inevitably building up a lot of tension. With his use of descriptive language Bradbury also manages to isolate Lavinia (‘And the world was gone, the world of safe people in bed. The locked doors, the town, the drugstore, everything was gone’) making her feel more vulnerable and again more likely to have something happen to her thus also building up tension.
Ray Bradbury also creates tension by the way he manipulates and portrays time. ‘The crickets were suddenly still…summer night trees suspending in motion. Leaf, Shrub, star and meadowgrass had ceased their particular tremors and were listening to Lavinia Nebbs heart’, by making everything seem still and giving a steady clocklike sound (Lavinia’s