A comparison of Red Room and Farthing House.

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                Nida Nagra 11RHY

A comparison of Red Room and Farthing House

Having read and analysed two short stories which both deal with the un-natural, I now intend to compare them in detail.  The Red Room is a short story from the nineteenth century, which is about a man who visits a haunted house to prove that there is no ghost or anything of such a nature inhabiting the house, and therefore proving that ghosts do not exist at all.  Farthing house is a story written after the nineteenth century, about a woman who also visits a house.  However, it is that of her aunty, and upon staying there, she also encounters a ghost.  In order to compare the two stories, I will examine the following factors:

  • Characters
  • Plot
  • Settings
  • Style
  • Language

The first indication that represents the differences in the stories is the titles.  Although both stories are similar in content, the titles represent very different genres.  ‘The Red Room’, through the use of the word ‘red’ immediately indicates that the genre will be horror, as the colour red simultaneously signifies blood, fear, and death.   This is exemplified by the fact that the story is not called the green or blue room, as this would immediately change the feeling of the book.   Red could have been specially used to signify horror and danger and in this story could also indicate that something bad happens or has happened in the room.  Also, the title holds an air of mystery, as readers wish to discover what is significant about ‘the red room’.  The story title ‘Farthing House’ on the other hand gives a dissimilar indication of the genre of the story.   Unlike ‘The Red Room’, the title ‘Farthing house’ sounds less menacing and to an extent friendlier.  The title suggests that farthing house is a cosy hospitable environment.  

        Both stories have a main character, and as both stories are written in the first person narrative, initially the reader is not told the gender of the main character.  However as the stories progress, the way in which the characters tell the stories allows the reader to make a clear assumption of the character’s gender.  In ‘The Red Room’, the story begins with the main character saying ‘I can assure you, that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me’.  This indicates that the gender of this character could be male, as he talks so arrogantly.  A stereotypical female would not speak in this manner, especially not in the time when the book was written.  We can also assume that the character is most probably male, because before the nineteenth century when the story was written, the chances of an upper class woman going alone to a house to investigate any manner of supernatural activity were very low.  It was not a norm in those times, whereas it could be now.  

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In Farthing House we are also not told the gender of the character.  However we learn that the main character in this story is female as she is writing a letter to her unborn child.  Also we suppose that the main character is female, by the way in which she thinks.  She considers the feelings of her aunty, and expresses her feelings of worry for her, which a man would not so readily do.  Also, the story starts with her saying that she has never told anyone the story and that she was ‘vulnerable’, which suggests her gender.  Moreover, ...

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