Tessie Hutchinson was in the center of a cleared space by now, and she held her hands out desperately as the villagers moved in on her. “It isn’t fair,” she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head. Old Man Warner was saying, “Come on, come on, everyone.” Steve Adams was in the front of the crowd of villagers, with Mrs. Graves beside him.

“It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,” Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they were upon her.

The above passage is an example of Shirley Jackson’s use of ______.

foreshadowing
suspense
symbolism
theme development

Suspense is a literary device that aims to evoke within the reader tension or an intense feeling while waiting for the outcome a story, a scene or a chapter, usually, the feeling is accompanied with the idea that something risky and dangerous is about to happen. This type of literary device intends to keep the reader interested in the story.

The passage is a great example of this since the author depicts a scene in which the Tessie is in a dangerous situation, her integrity is at risk, and the excerpt ends with a "then they were upon her", leaving the reader with a feeling of tension (something dangerous will happen) and curiosity to know what happened to the girl: did they catch her? did they hurt her? was she able to fight back? did she make it out alive?