How The red room by HG Wells and The farthing house by Susan Hill to a certain degree are typical of the horror, ghost story genre Essay Example For Students

How The red room by HG Wells and The farthing house by Susan Hill to a certain degree are typical of the horror, ghost story genre Essay The Red Room is a traditional gothic story, which in Victorian times would have been very popular with the readers. The author H.G Wells creates suspense in an unusual way rather than describe fear in to the readers mind with the use of long silences which have been known to work, the author develops the sense of fear without telling the reader why the fear exists in the first place. Since imagination is a humans most powerful tool, if not very helpful in scary circumstances, H.G Wells approach works creating almost like a cerebral psychosomatic thriller. The story itself is characterized by the deserted and dilapidated Loraine castle which creates an effectual plot to add to the ghoulish ambiance. The Farthing house is more subtle in its approach it is a ghost story never the less in a modern everyday setting and time era, which should be very familiar to the reader. Farthing House has a physical encounter, which creates the idea of a ghost story in a modern context. A sense of anxiety is created almost immediately in the opening sequences of The Red Room. The storyteller is youthful, confident, skeptical, and arrogant and patronizing as H.G Wells uses the characterization of the narrator through out the story to add frisson and dramatic irony through his emotions. The first person narrative familiarizes us with the character and immediately anticipation is built up, as we only know as much as the storyteller knows. As the tale progresses, three elderly custodians pierce into the story. H.G Wells uses them to create a sense of dismay and darkness by their company within the castle. H.G Wells cunningly creates an eerie and negative impression, by the clever description of the elderly people. He describes the narrators first meeting; I heard the sound of a stick and the shambling step on the flag in the passage outside, and the door creaked on its hinges as a second old man entered, more bent, more wrinkled, more aged even than the first. In the story ambiance is suggested, by arrangement and action but especially by H.G Wells choice of language when describing the characters and furniture of the room the queer old mirror, the man with the withered arm, the decaying yellow teeth and the monstrous shadows these quotes all provoke suspense and add to the atmosphere suggesting that the elderly are the ghosts themselves. H.G Wells draws a contrast between the narrator and the older characters, he is doing this as it adds to a sense of fear and tension in the story. With the narrator being the young and cynical and the elderly being the old and the wise. The old custodian gives repeated repetitions of warning of the danger that might lurk within The Red Room. But the arrogance of the narrator wins the better of him as he chooses to stay for one night in the The Red Room, of his own agreement. This nights of all nights! says the old woman. You go alone. These quotes show that repetition is used to raise uncertainty in the reader and also used to set the scene of the narrators journey to The Red Room as it adds to the creation of atmosphere. During the narrators journey to The Red Room, the once confident, dubious, patronising and self-assured character, which dominated the start of the story, begins to change, as the build up of fear, which the elderly created, starts to spread terror over the narrators mentality. The description of the surroundings leading to the to The Red Room taking place, builds up tension. Echoes rang up and down the spiral stairways. The spiral stairways itself is an example of a gothic ghost genre, as H.G Wells uses the surroundings and his eerie descriptions, to build up suspicion in the narrators mind, which is perceptible because on several occasions, the narrator becomes nervous and stops abruptly and examines mystifying things like, the shadow of the Ganymede. He tells us; Upon the white panelling it gave me the impression of someone crouching to waylay me, I stood rigid for half a minute perhaps. these quotation marks Such examples of that shows the emphasis of H.G Wells use of language, as instantaneously we, the reader, associate it with fear and evil that the narrator experiences. Later on in the story dramatic irony opens itself up, as the narrator becomes more aware of the history of the location. The fatal accident involving the Duke who had fallen down the stairs, allegedly running away from a ghost adds a sense of ghostly custom. When entering the room, he constantly reminds the reader about the tragic stories that are connected with the room, such as the timid wife. Upon entering the room, the narrator becomes unsteady in the inside but on the outside he tries to hide his fear. Wells cleverly uses his powerful use of words, when describing the room, to highlight the mystery connected with a ghost story genre. Wells describes the room as having germinating darkness. Wells uses his cunning description to create an atmosphere. Anxiety and fear, attacks the narrator, as he stands in the room. Dread plays mind games on the narrator, as it is clearly shown that the narrator becomes paranoid. On several occasions he reassures himself by a perpetual scrutiny of the room. He states; I resolved to make a systematic examination of the place at once, and dispel the fanciful suggestion of its obscurity before they can obtain a hold upon me. Notice that when the narrator says, Before they can obtain a hold upon me. The narrator refers to they, as the fear. There was something very cheery and reassuring in these little steaming flames. I did not see the candle go out. These quotes clearly show another method used by the author to create the common contrast between light and dark a typicality of gothic ghost genre. The narrator feels safe in light as he regains the sense of sight. The narrators self-assurance and confidence, is immediately eroded as what seems to be an invisible supernatural creature/spirit, as described by the narrator, as an invisible hand rapidly sweeps out the candles, one by one. But then in a volley four lights vanished at once in different corners of the room. The narrator becomes more irritated due to the dread that is overtaking his body, as on several occasions starts shouting at this invisible spirit, as he runs around the room fighting to keep the candles alight. Steady on! I said. These candles are wanted, speaking with a half-hysterical facetioness. Christmas Memory By Capote EssayI was very tired, with that slightly dazed, confused sensation that comes after a long drive the attendant conversation. Is another example of the change of atmosphere. From the narrator being a lively and energetic person to being exhausted and confused. Susan Hill uses more powerful imagery to build up tension when she says, I was overshadowed by a curious sadnessit descended like a damp veil. Throughout the narrative, there is a raising and lowering of tension. As soon as the narrator has a rising of tension, she lowers that tension by thinking of positive aspects about the house. Positive aspects like the antiques in the hall were good, substantial pieces. The matron did not call herself one and was younger than I had expected. That is another example of the narrators countering her, own emotional responses. In entering the Cedar Room, the narrator feels something sinister in the atmosphere. Almost like the exact same feeling is made by the narrator of The Red Room. This maybe due to the paranoia, that might of built up when realising that her room wasnt actually vacant. The paranoia might of came from a suggestion that the previous occupants of the room have recently passed away. The Red Room and The Cedar Room are different in many ways. The Red Room being a more gothic room which adds to the atmosphere; where as The Cedar Room is a lonely, empty room with no build, what so ever, of different types of atmosphere. Tension is ruined by the narrators use of dramatic irony, this is when she boasts that she is expecting a bad dream or to see something supernatural. But tension is later rapidly built up as the narrator later tells the reader that a presence of a crying baby was felt. Due to the narrators mention of a crying baby, the reader can make some sense of the beginning of the story, when she mentions that the birth of a child is so very vulnerable. When the narrator hears the noises of the baby crying, she becomes unsteady but once again she blank out the dread that it is in her mind by reading a book and thinking of all the positive things that consist in the house. During the night, the narrator can feel a strong presents, which raises inquisitions in the reader, but the motionless surroundings, of the big room, fails to excite the readers sub controlled fears. The narrator is in confusion, as she is unsure if she had half-dreamed, half imagined and forgotten the sound of the babys tears. Notice the narrators response to her ghostly experiences. For instance she observes: And the something else happened- or not happened. There just was something else, something else, that is the only way I can describe it. Note the narrators sense of isolation in the middle of the night and her sense of someone there as she is in confusion and doubts her own senses. The next day, the narrator tries to preclude contact with the matron, about the previous night. The narrator most likely wants to forget about the incident as does not want to be reminded the heartfelt dread which lies on the inside. The linking of the presents of the antiseptic smell which is mentioned earlier in the story, with the ghost suggest some history which may exist in Farthing House, that history being that in the house being a convalescent home during the war. H.G Wells gives a very different approach in describing the ghost in The Red Room. The ghost in The Red Room is transparent/no visible, where as Susan Hill instead gives a clear description of the ghost. The ghost bring a traditional pale face. Farthing House fails to built up our mental psyche as many of the questions are answer by the end but H.G Wells makes the audience draw its own conclusions, as the ending fails to answer questions. H.G Wells does this by not describing the ghost in any way, this adds to tension. The second encounter that the narrator has with the ghost, she does not necessary shows much panic but instead contains it within her. This may be because the psychological fear may not be of a huge disparity. For example in The Red Room the other characters had a major part in the build up of tension. Where as in Farthing house, the characters played a smaller role in creating tension but instead create a negative atmosphere. The narrator tells the reader that she feels terrible melancholy as she creates a cold atmosphere within her cleverly described emotions. The narrator tells the reader, straight after the encounter, that at the second encounter the ghost was present. She also admits that she is depressed, and distressed, due to the encounters with the ghost. The narrator ends the story by adding an ominous atmosphere to create frission. She tells the reader that it was dark, dreadful, helpless feeling and with no sense of foreboding. The concluding part of the story, Susan Hill explains to a larger extent than H.G Wells. Susan Hill creates a more of a conclusion where as The Red Room leaves the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. At the last parts of the story, the narrator stumbles across a gravestone at a nearby church. This gravestone belonged to a mother who died with her infant. She then goes to the vicar for answers, and the vicar explains as her sentiments are centred on pity and sorrow. Both writers techniques, in creating setting, atmosphere and tension all seem to be similar in one way or another. But Hill uses little hints of the genre to give slight more hope of a ghost. Hill uses the past in creating referable links from which deductions can be made. For example: the women who encountered a ghost, which was reported on the newspapers. She develops the characters by creating atmosphere, for example the bad events that later builds up to create tension. Where as Wells, uses the narrators mentality psych of the setting. Both stories have built up a really menacing atmosphere of a ghost story genre. But Wells seems to integrate the classic genre elements, which the readers are more familiar with.