Ghost stories are often told in the first person, to suggest that the writer actually had the experience. The Call is narrated by a person, who did not experience the events of the story but heard it from another person, this person knew the characters.
The Call opens with the narrator (rota- secretary) telling the story “I’m rota-secretery of our local Samaritans…”. The rota secretary heard the story through other people and never actually experienced the story or even was a character in it. However the rota secretary does know the main characters well and therefore the integrity of his story can be questioned. The exposition of this story is of the narrator telling the background of the story and explaining why the circumstances of Christmas Eve came to. The superstitious mans story is being told by someone who wasn’t directly involved with the story but was told about it by someone (by word of mouth) which is the traditional way of story telling The of the story can therefore be questioned because as the story is likely to change a little bit each time it is told.
In the call the first sign of oddness occurs when Harry Lancaster the Samaritan who is sick is determined to make his Christmas eve call, one in which he has made for decades on end without problem. This begs the question- why is he so eager to get there? “He tried dosing himself with all kinds of things; swore he was still coming. Was desperate to come”, a complication arises when Meg answers the first call of the night from a lady “He’s going to kill me. I know he’s going to kill me” this is the first sign of death in the story, and this is important because death is a very typical ingredient of a ghost story. Before the first call both Meg and Geoff are happy and jolly because of it being Christmas Eve,” It was just happiness”, but after the call, the cold voice of the woman makes Meg and Geoff feel frightened in a way, “Meg put the phone down wearily, and suddenly shivered”.
The anticipation and mystery builds up in ‘the call’ after every call, the calls get more and more detailed and also the obviousness of her death is stressed and cemented by the woman.” “Geoff heard the line go dead again. He thought Meg looked like a corpse herself. White as a sheet. Dull dead eyes, full of pain.” Meg and Geoff get more and more scared because after the first call they were assured by Tom Brett (the loyal duty-director) that the call was a hoax as the reliability of the woman is in doubt because she describes surroundings being foggy-when they are not. After each call Meg slowly turns on her husband and their relationship becomes more and more distant. This is because her conversations with the woman make her think that her husband is a danger to her. The plot thickens when Geoff goes to find the woman in her house, when he gets there he meets an old couple who tell him the true story of what happened many years ago with the woman and her husband. The tension and mystery in the superstitious mans story builds up from when William goes outside but when Betty goes upstairs she sees him in bed.
The call ends with the death of Harry Lancaster. Then it goes on to tell you that after his death there are no more phone calls on Christmas Eve. The superstitious mans story ends with the death of William Pivette and the supposed sight of him dying at the same place where his son died. When William Pivette died a mill moth flew out of his mouth as to symbolize his soul escaping. The sight of William dieing at the same place as his son symbolizes him missing his son and wanting to be with him.
From having read both stories very carefully I feel that “the call” by Robert Westall is better, it creates more suspense and mystery for the reader. “The call” also seems more genuine as it has modern day possessions mentioned in it for example the telephone, which created most of the drama. Both of the stories make the reader want to read on and learn more about the characters but the authors of both “the call” and “superstitious mans story” leave the readers guessing. The “superstitious mans story” seems too short to create much tension or suspense unlike “the call” which has modern day things like the telephone mentioned in it which creates plenty of tension.
