The Narrative Structure:
Suspense
In media and nonfiction
Techniques for Creating Suspense
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Foreshadowing- clues to suggest what will
happen next
Raising questions in the reader’s mind
Withholding certain information
How is suspense created in movies?
Techniques
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Camera shots
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Editing
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POV
High-angle
Low-angle
Pace
Quick cuts
Sound
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Music
Sound effects
Absence of sounds
Suspense
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How does the author create suspense in this biography?
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Foreshadowing
Raising Questions
Withholding information
Narrative Technique Example
Raising question
in reader’s mind
Foreshadowing
Withholding
certain
information
“Rumors swirled … that Seabiscuit
was lame” (lines 7-8).
“Rain and dirt had blended into a
heavy goo along the rail …
Seabiscuit would be right down in it
… [Rosemont’s] problem would be
traffic” (lines 36-46).
Perhaps Pollard didn’t see
Rosemont coming because of
the blindness of his right eye”
(lines 180-181).
Author’s Purpose
•
What do you think Hillenbrand’s main purpose was in
writing this biography? What other purposes might she
have had? Support your answer with evidence.
•
To inform or explain
•
To persuade
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To entertain
•
To express thoughts or feelings
Historical Context
•
Commenting on her biography of Seabiscuit, Hillenbrand said,
“The subjects that I’ve written about—the men and the horse—
were radically different individuals, but the one thread that
pulls through all of their lives and through the events that they
lived through together is this struggle between overwhelming
hardship and the will to overcome it.”
•
When Seabiscuit was making racing history, the United States
was reeling from the Great Depression, a catastrophic
economic collapse that began in 1929 and continued through
the 1930s. What might Seabiscuit have represented to the
country at that time?