Question

The expression was that of agony—the agony of intense bodily pain; but a menace scowled upon the brow, and a few sprinklings of blood added to its ghastliness. Yet it was not all these characteristics—it was some horror of the mind, some inscrutable antipathy awakened by this picture, which harrowed up my feelings.

What technique does Irving use to build suspense in the excerpt?

1.The pace of the story quickens.
2.The word choice darkens the tone.
3.Odd characters are introduced.
4.The setting details are intentionally omitted.

Answer 1

2. The word choice darkens the tone.

Step-by-step explanation:

Washington Irving's "Tales Of A Traveler, By Geoffrey Crayon, Gent" is a collection of essays and short stories that tells the unnatural stories about a the narrator's experiences and encounters with the supernatural elements. The stories of this book employs the gothic sense of story writing where the characters had to endure some unrealistic supernatural elements.

The given passage is from the section/chapter "The Adventure of The Mysterious Picture" where the narrator tells the story of their stay in a haunted place for the night. The host had told them of a particular haunted room, of which he will not specify, and that whoever endures the night will be the ultimate 'hero'. The narrator's room, as he had described, had an odd painting which look more eerie and ghostly as the night gets deeper. This particular passage is a description of that painting as seen by the narrator.

The choice of words that the writer made the narrator use in describing the painting shows the dark mood, the scary and 'ghostly' tone of the whole scene. The negative words such as "agony, menace scowled, blood, horror, inscrutable antipathy" all give a tone of horror, fear and dark imagery of the scene.

Answer 2

2.

Step-by-step explanation:

The given excerpt is taken from the collection of essays and short stories written by Washington Irving, 'Tales of a Traveler,' 'The Adventure Of the Mysterious Picture.'

The technique that Irving has used in this excerpt is the choice of words which darkens the tone of the story.

Words/phrases choices such as 'agony of intense bodily pain,' 'a few sprinkling of blood,' 'ghastliness,' 'antipathy awakened by this picture,' 'harrowed up my feelings' used by the author has an impact of building the suspense in the story.

So, the correct answer is option 2.