THE LANGUAGE OF FEAR: ANALYSIS OF SUSPENSE IN THOMAS HARRIS’S FICTION

This article examines how Thomas Harris creates suspense through language and the way information is presented. It focuses mainly on Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs. The analysis looks at changes in narrative viewpoint, descriptions of characters’ thoughts, word choice, sentence structure, and dialogue. Particular attention is paid to scenes in which readers know that danger is near, but do not know exactly what will happen. The article also considers how ordinary conversations can become tense when one speaker has more knowledge or control than the other. Using close textual analysis and ideas from cognitive stylistics, the study argues that suspense develops through the relationship between language, narrative information, and readers’ interpretation.