many ways
...s both her and her son run away. About 6 years later Gertrude finds out about the affair between Rhoda and her husband. Gertrude returns to visit Conjuror Trendle once more as she thinks Farmer Lodge does not love her any more. This time he suggests that she Touches the neck of a recently hung man with her arm as this may cure it. Months later Gertrude goes to Casterbridge but it is too late and so she has to wait for the next hanging, which is not for several months. She comes back later that year and talks the hangman into letting her touch the hung mans body. Soon after she has touched the neck of the man she sees Rhoda and her husband. They are here to pick up their sons body. He is the person who has just been hung and Rhoda has touched. Rhoda is enraged to see Gertrude and throws her against a wall which results in Gertrude’s death three days later. Now I have provided a précis of the story I will try to explain how the writer Thomas Hardy interests and entertains us in his stories by referring to specific examples from ‘The Withered Arm’. I will talk about how he creates suspense and tension and how the particular words he uses can help create atmosphere. I will also discuss contrast and how this can make the story more interesting. Finally, I will discuss the balance and ending of the story of the story. Hardy creates tension and suspense by withholding information. This works as you are always wondering what will happen next. Hardy does this because he is trying to keep you interested in the book. An example of creating tension and suspense in ‘The Withered Arm’ is, “Gasping for breath, Rhoda, in a last desperate effort, swung out her right hand”. This creates tension, as you are uncertain what Rhoda has done to Gertrude. If Rhoda really feels that strongly about Gertrude it makes you wonder, maybe she will recreate her dream in real life. At the end of the story we find out that in fact she does this, which results in the death of Gertrude. Another example of creating suspense is when Gertrude finds out she has been cursed, ‘Do you catch a likeness of any face or figure as you look? Demanded the conjuror of the young woman. She murmured a reply, in tones as low as to be inaudible to Rhoda’. This quote suggests that she saw Rhoda in the cup and so she said to Rhoda “I am not sorry we came”. Another reason we believe she saw Rhoda is that Gertrude’s, ‘companionship had quite changed’, and they did not say much all the way home this suggests that there is tension between the two of them. Hardy’s choice of words also makes a big impact on the atmosphere the story creates. If he does not describe the scenes well, readers will not get into the story, as they cannot imagine themselves in the book. He uses adjectives very well; throughout ‘The Withered Arm’, if he did not do this the story would become very boring. Good examples of his use of adjectives are when he describes Gertrude. Hardy calls Gertrude, ‘Soft and evanescent, like the light under a heap of rose-petals’, if he had just said pretty it would have meant the same thing but not have created the same atmosphere. Hardy uses contrast in his stories to make the story more interesting. The following example creates interest as you think that the two conflicting characters will argue and you wonder what form the argument will take. There are several examples of contrast some of these are more extreme th...