Woolrich's story is a chilling and suspenseful tale of one mans witness of a murder committed by a man in a neighboring apartment. The story follows through Hal's first person perspective of the events and gives readers an inside look on his thoughts, actions, and drawn conclusions. The story works as a piece of literature as it features a plot, protagonist, antagonist, and a central problem that must be solved.
I think this story is perfect for a movie adaptation because it is the classic murder mystery that a film noir would be a based on. It creates drama, and suspense, and adapting it to film would heighten its darker elements with the usage of lighting, and camera angles/movements as well as giving the characters even more life through portrayal from actors.
"It had to Be Murder" manages to give a feeling of suspense in such a short story. The narrator describes what he sees in very jagged short sentences. As he is someone who sits at a window all day, he picks up on and learns to read different actions in a way that other people would not be able to. Although he is very observant, he assumes too much because he has only a limited view for his observations. IF he is only noticing certain actions, of course he can create his own scenario in his mind to fill the gaps. Most of the things he observed could have been the man's reaction to the death of his wife,not a murder. For example, his excess drinking could easily be because he does not know how to handle the death of his wife.
ReplyDeleteA movie version of this story could add a lot to this story. As we have only the observations that Hal gives us, a movie can give us other perspectives.
"It had to be murder" uses descriptive language through out the entire story to create a mystery murder that I believe will transfer great to a movie. The story will provide the movie with a classic plot that can't be resisted if you are a mystery fan. Im not much of a reader myself however I thought that the first person point of view made it easier to follow along with the mystery. Woolrich gives full analysis of a man, his thoughts, feelings, and thats it. There is not an excessive amount of character, or details that you have to pick up on and understand to get the story. An example of the great description Woolrich gives us through out is when Hal knows that there is an intruder in his house. The language used creates suspense, we also can paint a picture of what the setting is at this time, as well as Hal's thoughts, and feelings.
ReplyDeleteWoolrich’s protagonist, Jeff, is a mysterious, intelligent character whose perceptiveness and tenaciousness solves a murder in a highly unorthodox way. The reader knows little about Jeff personally and only learns the reason why he has been confined to a chair at the story’s conclusion. It is left up to the reader’s imagination to determine why this man, who “was used to getting plenty of exercise,” is now sedentary and has become a “Peeping Tom.”
ReplyDeleteWoolrich shows us how to solve murder in different form. He brings a lot of suspense by having many questions unanswered. We have little detail on our protagonist Jeff who confines that there has been a murder to begin with. Woolrich gets the readers mind flowing with ideas on what will happen and what has already happened. There is a lot of mystery left of the story. We must try to imagine and create our own conclusion.
ReplyDeleteI particularly like the contemplations of what creates suspense in this line of discussion. Patrick, thanks for starting the strand! Your colleagues have added some thoughtful responses to the question of what makes the story works -- it is worth looking even more specifically at how that suspense is produced in the narrative, as Brigethia, Jeremy, Olivia and Rylee consider.
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