"Sensory overload in something that cannot be sensed" - Narrative Techniques in "The Call of Cthulhu" Anonymous 11th Grade

H.P. Lovecraft has a specific storytelling style that is so dramatically terrifying, all the while he barely describes the terror on the page. Throughout his story “The Call of Cthulhu” he leads his description of the beast with “...The Thing cannot be described.” Then, he goes on to describe it for us. It leaves the reader with a sense of visual shock as they try to imagine what could be so frightening and otherworldly that no word in the human language could possibly describe it. Effectively, Lovecraft mastered the style of shocking his readers through his confusing and contradicting description. The reason why his writing is so frightening is because the horror is left up to the interpretation of the reader.

Throughout “The Call of Cthulhu” Lovecraft effectively builds up tension for the reveal of the creature all the while barely describing it at all. Through the narration of Thurston, Lovecraft explains to the reader how the monster is so horrifyingly out of this plane of existence that it cannot be described- and then he proceeds to describe it. This technique keeps the reader on edge while they wait for the beast to be released in all of its horrifying glory. Once Cthulhu is finally set loose, Lovecraft continues with...