The Ring Essay, Research Paper

?It was happening again. Charley wouldn?t stay locked in the secret place.

Charley insisted on thinking of Erin. Only two more Charley whispered. Then I?ll

stop?(p.1). Charley is a psycho killer in the novel Loves Music, Loves to Dance by

Mary Higgens Clark. This novel is about two girls, Darcy and Erin, who are

answering personal ads because their friend is doing a story about people who place

and answer ads. Erin goes on one particular date with a man who calls himself

Charles North. Erin is found dead two days later on a boat dock by the highway.

When she was found she was wearing one of her own shoes and an unmatched

ballroom dancing shoe. The FBI figures out that there is a cereal killer and they

urge everyone not to answer the personal ads. Despite what everyone says, Darcy

keeps answering, these ads in hope that she will find Erin?s killer. Darcy goes on

many dates and the one person she would never suspect. While at his home, she

finds Erin?s ring.

The key scene in this novel is when Darcy is on a date with Michael Nash,

otherwise known as Charles North. She starts to get very nervous because he is

acting extremely strange, so she decides to walk around a little at his ?writing

cabin?. Darcy goes to sit back down on the couch and steps on something almost

completely covered by the fringe on the rug. Ignoring it, she sits down and begins

shaking uncontrollably. While shaking so badly, Darcy accidentally spilt some

sherry on the rug. As she dabbed the wine up with a napkin, she noticed Erin?s ring.

She thought, ?Erin?s ring. Erin had been here. Erin had answered Michael Nash?s

ad?(p.279). This is the key scene because this is where the novel becomes very

suspenseful. Here, you realize that Michael killed Erin and now it?s Darcy?s turn.

Since this story is written so well, the writer made it even more suspenseful by

putting Darcy and Michael off at this little house that no one knows about. This is

not only the key scene, but the best scene. I like how the writer wrote it to make

this be the point where the novel begins to unravel.

After the key scene, Darcy and Michael begin to dance. Darcy can tell

Michael is going psycho. Then he tells her it is her time. Just in time, everyone

figures out where Darcy is and saves her life. This is a very well written novel and I

highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys suspense.