In my last post I talked about the way a simile used by the protagonist, Edmund Hooper reveals a great deal about his psychological character. Our metaphors and similes give us away.
I now wish to look at the final sentence of the opening. This analysis proves how simple writing can be enormously effective and affecting too.
So here’s the last line. It’s in a paragraph by itself:
But he knew where to find the key.
The final sentence of the opening to Susan Hill’s novel is set apart from the rest of the opening. This isolation gives sinister drama to the meaning of the line and generates a marked sense of foreboding. The alienation of the line suggests danger. We are reading an unsettling promise:
But he knew where to find the key.
The contrasting preposition ‘but’ communicates the secret intentions of the character, ‘he’. we feel ‘he’ has observed the whereabouts of the key for a reason. The specific mention of the ‘key’ seems a metaphorical gateway into something secret and disturbing. The reader suspects future problems around the use of the’ key‘ with its unlocking of the sinister sounding ‘Red Room.’ The line also shows the power of the protagonist. We sense his watchfulness; his acute observations make him appear predatory and we await his choice of victim or prey.
If you read the line aloud, it is interesting to place the emphasis on different words. This allows us to hear the tone of voice, and therefore hear the threat and secret intention.
The reader knows that the protagonist will ‘find the key.‘ We await the time and outcome with trepidation!
