'The purpose of the novel is to excite the readers' nerves by continually delaying the expected outcome of the plot'. Compare the ways in which authors build tension in two or more of the novels you have studied.

In The Great Gatsby and Great Expectations, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Charles Dickens, respectively, build tension by placing the climax of their novels towards the end of their narratives. The death of Gatsby in the penultimate chapter of The Great Gatsby, as well as the arrival of Abel Magwitch upon the scene in Pip's London abode, serve as the unquestionable climaxes of the novels. However, whilst Dickens excites the readers' nerves in the unexpectedness of the climax, Fitzgerald builds tension by delaying a climax which is imminently expected by the reader. Although both authors employ first-person, retrospective narrators, they utilise dramatic irony to different ends and extents in building tension. Dickens overloads his reader with information so as to prevent them from discerning likely events amongst interweaving plot lines, as if submerged in the naive perspective of Pip. Fitzgerald, on the other hand, supplies only a vague outline of the surroundings and ongoings of 'one summer' at the East Coast. In both cases, the author's choice of narrative perspective creates tension. Calls the reader to predict plot - many possibilities and naive perspective v. detached, investigator stance of revisiting information Places a delay between information and outcome (i.e. stilled scenes of angst and heat in Gatsby at Nick's home and in the New York apartment, or introduction of many storylines in Great Expectations) The climax is complex, misunderstood, and creates intrigue