
Twisted turns, petrifying plot twists, and crippling suspense. Often in horror stories the writer begins with an oddly calming tone and ends it with tension and surprise. Authors use various techniques to build this tone of terror. These techniques include diverse figurative language such as imagery, metaphors, narratives, and rhyme. There are quite a few authors that are prone to writing only horror and chillers using these figurative devices. Among these authors is H.P. Lovecraft, who’s known for his dark storylines and influence on the horror fiction culture. Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls” demonstrates what it takes to horrify the reader. In “Rats in the walls” Lovecraft applies fictional imagery, flashbacks relating to De La Poer’s ancestral past, and abstract diction to send his audience into a spiraling suspenseful journey.

In order to horrify the audience the author must include descriptive language when explaining a scene. Imagery incorporated into a text allows for the reader to pick out and create a mental image of what appeals to them the most. For example, when Lovecraft’s phrase “antechamber of hell” is first read, the word “hell” sticks out because it is the most frightening and causes images of the devil, demons, and fire to pop into the reader’s mind. These intellectual pictures then cause the reader to become scared and creeped out. In the beginning of the story De La Poer, the narrator, is moving into his newly remodeled home, Exham Priory, which was previously owned by his family. He then goes into detail of how the house was set up before renovations. He refers to the home as a “deserted pile of shell like-ruin” and also talks about how it “had remained untenanted” (Lovecraft 75). The words deserted and ruin makes the reader visualize an abandoned building that is usually associated with a haunted or cursed house. Lovecraft uses detailed wording scarcely early on in the story to create imagery in the reader’s mind and prepare a buildup of suspense. A little later in the beginning of the story Lovecraft mentions the house again claiming that “Exham Priory itself I saw without emotion, a jumbled of tottering… separate towers” (Lovecraft 76). De La Poer personifies the ruins of his house claiming they seem emotionless, almost as if they possess death, leading the audience to create mental pictures like that of a graveyard that holds the dead.  The images of a toneless house accompanied by a dull, dying graveyard sets a gloomy mood for the reader. Since Lovecraft now holds the reader’s attention, he builds off of that suspense, keeping the reader interested. “My old black cat...alert and anxious to an extent”, De La Poer states after the first incident occurred and his cat, Nigger-Man, begins to notice unusual scurrying in the walls. Cats are known for first recognizing when unusual occurrences begin to happen. They are the first indication, almost like a warning, that awful things are coming.  He also claims “He roved...restless and disturbed...the walls which formed part of the old Gothic structure”. Lovecraft explains how even after being renovated, the walls are still how they were before: gothic-like ruin and his cat is scratching at them.  The description of Nigger-Man’s reaction to the walls creates a fearful illustration since a cat shows attention to the walls that are associated with De La Poer’s dark, ancestral past. Now that the reader has a creepy, mental visual of the setting, Lovecraft now tops it off with another terrifying use of imagery. He does this near the end of the story by describing the vault found under the mansion, and also what is in it. “Through a nearly square opening… flight of stone steps so prodigiously worn… was a ghastly array of human bones”. He goes on to say “Like a foamy sea they stretched… these latter invariably in postures of daemonic frenzy, either fighting off some menace...cannibal intent” (Lovecraft 86). A horrifying psychological image is created that proves to be the climax of suspense Lovecraft has built up. The audience now visualizes a dark, dungeon with worn down stairs that contains skeletons, skulls, some of human descent, and some of an unknown creature. Not only does it seem as though a fearful death has occurred, but also a battle either to stay alive or to eat one’s own, or what De La Poer calls “cannibal intent” (Lovecraft 86). Now having an idea, along with an image, of what has occurred, the audience can now piece all of the information together, creating a disturbing plotline of the story.  

Although imagery builds suspense in “Rats in the walls”, Flashback is also included to set the mood. Near the beginning of the story, De La Poer mentions that there had been a massacre on the property. “The place had not been inhabited since… nature had struck down the master, five of his children and several servants (Lovecraft 75). This flash back lets the reader know that the mansion has a history of unexplainable death and gore. Usually when events go unexplained it is believed that there is a hidden explanation or one that humans will not understand. When the reader is given the history of the house it causes them to believe that the house is cursed or haunted. De La Poer goes on to say that “The bare statistics of my ancestry I had always known… my first American forbear had come to the colonies under a strange cloud” (Lovecraft 75). He also states that, “Unlike our planter neighbors, we seldom boasted of crusading ancestors” (Lovecraft 75). It is shown here that the ancestors of De La Poer were separated from the rest of the families that were present during the medieval times. Questions similar to: what made his family different, why his forebear had a strange cloud to his name, and why they never spoke of their ancestors are then asked by the audience after reading this quote. This guides the reader to assume the family had a shameful history they would rather not share. Lastly De La Poer says that “In once chronicle there is a reference to a De La Poer as a curse of God in 1307” (Lovecraft 77), referencing the old tales Capt. Norrys, a good friend of Delatorre’s son, would tell. This could also leave the reader questioning why the Capt. Norrys would mention the De La Poer’s out of all of the medieval families during this time. These flashbacks cause the audience to wonder how the De La Poer’s past is now affecting the present and could lead to the impression that the house is cursed. 

Words can trigger certain feelings in the reader. When De La Poer discussed the tragedy that occurred on the Exham Priory grounds, he used words that hold a negative connotation. He states “when a tragedy of intensely hideous, though largely unexplained” (Lovecraft 75), using the word tragedy to relate to a fatal event, while hideous is used to explain something frightful, and unexplained relates to the uncertainty of how an event occurred. The reader then experiences the gore that occurred during this time and the uncertainty behind it. Later on in the story De La Poer goes on to talk about what was discovered in the vault under the basement. He says, “God! Those carrion black pits of sawed picked bones and opened skulls” (Lovecraft 88). Here De La Poer is appalled at the findings. Also carrion, meaning dead and putrefying flesh, impacts the reader more easily than the word “disgusting” or “nasty”, almost as if the scene is repulsive. Black pits can be associated with the pits of hell, which puts the reader in an ominous dungeon-like setting where bones have been collecting. 

The task of writing a horror story is difficult for many. Often the reader ends up confused or the author does not achieve his purpose. Figurative devices are used to help the author reach out to the reader. H.P. Lovecraft is known for influencing other horror fiction writers and reaching out to his readers with his uses of figurative language. Lovecraft uses these devices to build suspense in his stories, which leave the reader horrified when the story comes to an end. The reader of “Rats in the walls” is lead on a terrifying adventure due to Lovecraft’s use of descriptive imagery, personal flashbacks, and specific diction. 
