You have correctly identified that there are two central
settings to this terrifying short story (at least for those who suffer from vertigo) -
the safe interior of Tom's apartment where he has nothing else to worry about except
work and his guilt at leaving his wife to go to the cinema by herself, and then the
incredibly dangerous setting of outside the apartment, where literally placing one foot
wrong will have disastrous consequences.
The way that
suspense is greatly increased in this second setting, as you put it, is through the
infinite care that Tom takes in going out of the window and how this is
described:
He
swung a leg over the sill, then felt for and found the ledge a yard below the window
with his foot. Gripping the bottom of the window frame very tightly and carefully, he
slowly ducked his head under it, feeling on his face the sudden change from the warm air
of the room to the chill outside. With infinite care he brought out his other leg, his
mind concentrating on what he was doing. Then he slowly stood
erect....
Note how this
description marks a complete change in the story. We see a man having to move very
slowly, plan his every move and enact it with great skill and care - for he knows the
cost if he should fall.
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