'When I Woke Up' Review

'When I woke up, the knife was still there.'

Immediately the feeling of something quite sinister is conveyed. This is because of the use of the dramatically short sentence which conveniently echoes throughout the mind as we try to understand what may have happened leading up to the placement of the said knife.

I instantly assume that something dark has taken place, as in my opinion the connotations of a knife are usually linked to knife crime and murder. The sentence is very effective as it does not give a time scale, maybe the person fell asleep during the night, in the morning, and maybe he slept for a long time or hardly any time at all. I think it does not specify a certain time as it adds to the confusion and mystery of the story, and also urges the reader to contemplate this for themselves. It is also strange as the sentence does not specify a gender of the person, but I presume it is a man. This may because of men being more associated with knife crime. The use of first person draws the reader in, as using 'I' makes it much more personal for the reader, as if they are living out the story themselves, whereas using third person is less subjective and therefore does not entice the reader to such an extent. Despite my first thoughts of the knife being linked to murder, there are other perspectives you could take when reading this story. For example, the nature of this could be completely innocent. Perhaps someone forgot to put the knife away, whilst cleaning up, or it could be that the person in the story is in fact a victim of crime. It could be a kidnapping, and he may be relieved the knife remains there, in that spot, as it means he is still alive. Or, to take another view on it, it may be based on a suicidal nature.

Just from a story as short as this, because of the narrative it prompts the mind to ask questions as it leaves much to be desired. There is a basis for a beginning, middle and an end, which is not distinctive but evidently there. This is because the tension increases. The beginning of the story starts with the person waking up, and then his attention turns to the knife, which is the middle, and he realises it's still there - the end. It also acts as a build up to the climax of the story, the realisation that in fact the knife is still in that one place. The sentence only uses one syllable words which creates more dramatic tension than it would if it was written as 'When I woke up this morning, I noticed that the knife was still there.' It isn't as intense because the one word syllables are like a beating drum, one beat after another, building up to something bigger.