Escape the Morning | Literary Qualities

Escape the Morning Literary Qualities

"Escape the Morning" is a lean adventure story that is representative of Anderson's literary skills. One of the key elements of an adventure story is suspense, and Anderson introduces it right away: "Troubles never come singly, or Mark Jordan would not have been racing the sunrise for his life."

This kind of opening sentence is called a teaser—it is supposed to entice an audience's interest. In this case, the opening sentence has three elements to swiftly pull readers in. First is that "troubles never come singly": How many troubles does Mark have? Second is "racing the sunrise": How does one race a sunrise? Where could the action be taking place that it would be possible to race a sunrise? Third is "for his life": What about a sunrise could kill someone? To find the answers to these questions that the first sentence of the story raises one must...
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