Comparing "The Monkeys Paw With the Red Room"

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Zohaib Mohammad                        English/Course work                                           10W

Comparing “The Monkeys Paw With the Red Room”

Introduction

The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W Jacobs is a classic horror story in which tragedy strikes the White Family, When Sergeant Major Morris brings a Monkey’s paw into their lives which is said to grant three wishes. “The Red Room” by H.G Wells is also another typical horror story in which a man is sent to the great Lorraine Castle to investigate the superstitious fears of the workers. In this essay I’m going to compare “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W Jacobs with “The Red Room” by H.G Wells examining how the writers create suspense. If we look at “The Monkey’s Paw” the setting is typical for a horror story, “Night. Cold wet. Paths a bog and roads a torrent. Only two houses in the area”. With the setting being so stereotypical it establishes the expectation that something could go wrong and therefore helps to build suspense. Also like “The Monkey’s PawThe Red Room’s setting builds on the expectation that something could go wrong, Leaves the reader anxious to know what exactly will go wrong.” Chilly...Dusty...eerie...echoes up and down spiral stairs...Darkness overhead”, all are descriptive words used to manifest fear, and fear builds expectation which builds suspense.

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The character from “The Monkeys Paw” Sergeant-Major makes an appearance at the White Families house with out them knowing that he was going to come. This then creates tension and suspense for the reader to find out what who the person is. Before Sergeant-major Morris arrives at the house, the writer used words such as 'placidly,' soothingly,' 'hospitable,' and 'condoling' to describe the mood in the house. After when sergeant has arrived at the house, the mood changes with the writer using powerful and effective words such as: 'Pulsating,' 'oppressive,' 'magic,' and 'hoarsely.' The writer has used onomatopoeia in ...

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