The structure is a big part in the suspense created in both stories, as both authors arrange their stories to capture the reader’s attention. H.G.Wells does this (among other things) through the description of his characters, for example, in the quote, ‘said the man with the withered arm’, H.G.Wells does not give his character a name, which induces a certain mystery in the character. It also portrays the character as slightly weird, as the quote focuses on his ‘withered arm’, which in my opinion hints at the character almost being diseased, cursed, or even evil, as the stereotypical ‘good guy’ in a story is perfect, whereas villain (or monster) is diseased and/or ugly. Although L.Salway gives his characters names, he still injects a certain weirdness and mystery in them. He does this by going into detail surrounding his characters appearances, as the quote, ‘his eyes like pale grey stones’ shows. This quote creates suspense as it portrays Danny as an intimidating character, and even ghostly, as ‘pale grey stones’ suggests that his eyes were not alive and that Danny had no feelings, or no sensitivity, as ‘stones’ represents the lifeless matter that is worthless.
Both authors also create suspense by the dialogue of their characters. This tense dialogue is also put near the beginning of the story , to capture the reader’s attention, which links to the great deal of thought put into the structure of both stories. H.G.Wells uses this dialogue a lot at the beginning of his story, for instance, on page 5, in the quote ‘this night of all nights’. I think the author uses this quote to capture the imagination and attention of the reader as to what ‘this night’ was special for, which (with the story being of the ghost variety) immediately hints at the supernatural. This quote is also repeated, which emphasizes the shock of the character regarding the main characters choice of night , and that she genuinely shows concern. L.Salway also uses the repetition of certain words and phrases to create suspense and tension. One of these words is ‘fear’ [of the cupboard] , which is shown in the quotes ‘fear settled round him’ and ‘fear was pressing tightly around him’. The repetition of the word ‘fear’ creates suspense as it proves to the reader Andrew was infact scared. This repetition could also be repeated to get the reader almost used to the fear, so the build up to the finale is very big. H.G.Wells also uses the tension and panic to build up to the finale of his story. He does this by manipulating the light changes in ‘The Red Room’, as the quote ‘the flames [that lit the room] dwindled and vanished’ shows. This quote creates suspense as it creates the image of complete darkness (which is a common fear in man) as the word ‘vanished’ suggests, the immediate change in light, which almost makes the reader jump.
The language in both of these classic, gothic ghost stories relate greatly to the time period of which they were written. The example for this in ‘The Red Room’ is the quote I shall be so much the wiser , for I come to the business with an open mind’. This quote shows the old English style sentence structure as ‘I shall be so much the wiser’ shows (the translation into modern day sentence structure is probably ‘I will be much wiser’). You can also tell of the period in which L.Salway’s story was written, as it is generally more informal (which is more modern as people tend to be more informal) as the quote ‘we go back every summer to see the old folks at home’ shows us. This quote shows us of the regular terms and slang used in regular households, whereas older stories would only be written in ‘proper English’, as they would be aimed at the upper and middle classes, as the majority of the other class couldn’t read. H.G.Wells uses a lot of words and phrases to emphasize the tension and suspense in his story one of these quotes is ‘and I then shut them in’. This creates tension as the words ‘shut them in’ tells us this character feels he is shutting and keeping the other characters in another room, which emphasizes the loneliness and solitude of the main character. L.Salway also creates loneliness in his story, as in the paragraph on page 12 from ‘he stopped dead’ to the line which reads ‘if he didn’t-’. This paragraph portrays the Sharmans home as almost deserted, as it zero’s in on the hall and the cupboard under the stairs, and doesn’t tell of anything else. This paragraph can also be interpreted as Andrew’s fright of the cupboard, as the quote, ‘some unpacked tea chests’ shows us of Andrew’s inability to see the normality of the hall and the ‘tea chests’. H.G.Wells and Salway also use imagery a lot in their stories, as it creates a lot of tension and suspense. H.G.Wells creates imagery by describing the surrounding of his characters’ in great detail. The quote ‘deep toned, old fashioned furniture’ creates suspense as the word ‘old’ hints at the supernatural in my eyes, as we immediately think of the supernatural when old style houses occur (we think of the history of the house and whether it will have ghosts’ in them). L.Salway also creates imagery, suspense and tension through describing the characters almost ghostly features. The quote ‘he said stonily’ creates tension as it portrays Andrew’s appearance as almost dead, as ‘stonily’ creates the image of a face without any real features (as stones tend to be bland, lifeless objects). Both authors also create tension and suspense through the use of similes and metaphors. H.G.Wells uses similes a lot in the climax of his story, as this is the time to create a lot of suspense in a usual classic gothic host story. The quote ‘like a ragged storm cloud sweeping out the stars’ creates suspense as it gives the image of a being with life, not just a breeze but a thing with power and aggression, as we normally see storm clouds as nasty, and powerful. L.Salway also uses similes and metaphors in his story to create tension, as the quote ‘like a dark stifling blanket’ shows us, this creates tension as the blanket is referred to as dark (maybe evil) and the word ‘stifling’ says to me of smothering, as the word creates the image of struggle and panic.
Both authors also create suspense through the setting of their stories, creating the effect that the houses are derelict, run down and totally secluded, which is a common setting for a classic gothic ghost story. H.G.Wells uses the quote ‘go along the passage for a bit…you come to a door…through it is a spiral staircase…half way up that is a landing and another floor…go through that and down the long corridor at the end…’ to create the effect of secludedness and loneliness because it gives the impression that ‘the red room’ is far away from everybody (maybe even out of earshot, which would lead to the common fear of no-one being able to hear your screams), L.Salway creates the impression of the derelict house to create suspense, as the quote ‘drafty as a tomb’ shows. This quote creates suspense as it portrays the house as drafty (the coldness being a big part in most ghost stories, for example ‘The Sixth Sense’) and the tomb referring to death, of dead bodies and maybe even of ghosts. The word ‘tomb’ also portrays the house as empty, as when we think of a tomb we think of nothing apart from a single dead person, which makes us feel we are alone with this dead thing (no way out).
In conclusion, both authors create and maintain suspense and tension in many different ways, including the setting, the language and the structure of both stories. I think that the suspense in H.G.Wells’ story isn’t as well maintained as in Salways’, but in my opinion this is better as it creates more suspense when the time comes, whereas in Salways’ story the suspense is always there and you might even get used to it.
By Ed. Douglas
