Tenyaeva Anastasia ЯА-51

What devices does the author use to build up tension approaching the climax?
Provide examples and identify stylistic means.

Before Ruth takes to bed with an unidentified illness and sends Roger the much-
anticipated note she has to look through infinite amount of houses. The author uses
this part of the plot to build up tension by listing and comparing those houses, all the
while emphasizing their number.

They went over them thoroughly, examining them from the cellars in the basement to
the attics under the roof (which is a redundancy, but it also makes us realize how
much time it took).

Sometimes they were too large and sometimes they were too small, sometimes they
were too far from the centre of things and sometimes they were too close; sometimes
they were too expensive and sometimes they wanted too many repairs; sometimes
they were too stuffy and sometimes they were too airy; sometimes they were too dark
and sometimes they were too bleak.

In this extract the author uses antithesis to once more stress how difficult it was for
Ruth to remain patient.

House-hunting is a tiring and a tiresome business and presently Ruth began to grow
peevish.

Though the meaning of the words differs, the author once again wants to demonstrate
the degree of peevishness Roger made his fiancée feel.

They looked at hundreds of houses; they climbed thousands of stairs; they inspected
innumerable kitchens

We can see hyperbole and climax here.