'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens.

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    ‘A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens

     Ghost stories are easily identifiable because they contain classic features. Each aspect links together slowly creating a traditional tale. By looking at four simple features, we begin to piece the story together bit by bit. We tend to identify most often; settings/places, characters, events and language/tone. For example a typical ghost story setting could be in an old, abandoned house, desolate moors or even a family home. One pattern in these places is that there is usually an air of mystery about it, this is usually where the ghost makes its first appearance. An expectant reader will always assume this, but the personality will always be used to surprise the reader. Such as it could be either lonely, or revengeful, or merely just warning. The tone and language that go along with the ghost and its surroundings help create suspense. It normally uses certain qualities like long descriptive paragraphs filled with carefully chosen verbs and adjectives. This seems to always create a personal identity. Most ghost stories display certain events for example "When she bends, she breaks", has sudden shocks and leads up to the appearance of the ghost in a subtle, but surprising way.

     If we take the a closer look at the story "When she beds, she breaks." We can see all the aspects that we find supplied in a traditional ghost story. It is set in a dreary schoolroom, and then out in the snow. "…High windows and dark walls of the old school building." This story goes to great lengths to describe the perfect settings. An example of the description of the snow would be "the flat fens stretching away in a desert of whiteness." The main characters are Ben, Tommy and the new kid. Two of these are ghosts. Ben is a warning ghost. I think this because he helped Tommy out the ice. However the new kid is revengeful who is full of resentment over the fact that he died. He wants Tommy to die. "The kid's eyes, darkening as the day dwindled, rested on him." Even the description of him is menacing in a kind of a way, "There was still un-melted snow on his cheeks, and his eyelashes were tinged with white." The main event in this story is basically the lead up to finding out that Ben and the new kid are actually ghosts. This displays enough features that I feel are relevant to those of a ghost story

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This is very much like the film "The Sixth Sense". It contains many classic aspects that signify to us that it is a ghost story. The basic plot of this film is there is a boy who is a victim to many hunting's. He confides in Bruce Willis and he helps the boy overcome his fear of ghosts. The ghosts which he sees are meant to shock the viewer, but they are really just a diversion from the fact that Bruce Willis is a ghost as well. There you have an example of two types of events, the trick that ...

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