The Demon Lover Literary Devices

Explanation and Analysis:

"The Demon Lover" is an example of psychological fiction. It starts out as if it might be a realist story, with a lot of expository detail. As it continues, though, it starts to seem almost like a mystery story, as Mrs. Drover tries to piece together how the letter appeared in her home. Soon, though, it becomes clear that something's not quite right—either Mrs. Drover is psychologically unstable or there's something supernatural afoot.

In this way, "The Demon Lover" is actually a ghost story executed with the trappings of psychological fiction. For most of the story, readers are invited to question Mrs. Drover's sanity. The end, though, suggests that her fears were actually quite rational: her dead fiancé does seem to have returned—though, of course, it's possible that his supposed return is actually just part of Mrs. Drover's mental unraveling.

This mixture of psychological and supernatural elements lends "The Demon Lover" a sense of ambiguity that is characteristic of late Modernism. Many modernist works prioritize style and atmosphere over clarity, seeking to portray the human experience in figurative, nonliteral ways. With this in mind, it's possible to interpret the ending of "The Demon Lover" in more than one way: perhaps Mrs. Drover's fiancé has come back from the dead, but it's also possible that Mrs. Drover herself has fully succumbed to her own psychosis, which is perhaps an allegorical representation of the existential dread and unease of life in bombed-out London during World War II.

The Demon Lover: Genre 1 key example