The Superstitious Man’s Story is set in a village in the West Country but the Night Fears story is set during a night watchman’s watch. The first story is written in 1894 so they are still in the farming era. The Night Fears story is set after World War One and is completely outdoors so it only has a single setting. The Superstitious Man’s Story, on the other hand, is set partly indoors and partly outdoors.
William Privett is the main character in The Superstitious Man’s Story. He is described as a “curious, silent man”. He had a ghostly feel about him because it was said when he came ‘near’ee, you felt clammy, “as if a cellar door was opened close by your elbow”. The main character in Night Fears is a night watchman. He is quite a fearful man as, when he first started the job, he was scared of the dark and the light; the dark because he feared what it could conceal; the light because it shows him up in the dark. He felt the light “increased his helplessness”.
The two main characters are similar in the way they both end up dead in different circumstances because one kills himself, the other dies from illness.
I find Mrs Privett believable because she can tell, even before Nancy Weedle told her that she has seen William entering the church, what Nancy was going to say. I find she is believable because it is something I think would happen. When she is in the house, she sees William go out and not come back but he is upstairs. She believes in tradition so she knows he is going to die.
I also find the mysterious character in Night Fears very believable because I like the thought that he is something thought up by the night watchman’s mind; in a way he is almost like his conscience. The Night Watchman kills himself because of all of the doubt and suspicion in his own mind.
The Superstitious Man’s Story is told with a country west dialect because the author, Thomas Hardy, was brought up in the West Country. So it is very accented, eg: “Came near’ee”, “me o’t”. But the Night Fears story is in standard English as the author, L P Hartley, went to Harrow and Oxford University. Night Fears is very descriptive; it describes feelings and the characters involved in the story - “He could not make up his mind whether he liked it’s light.” “His thoughts were few but pleasant to dwell on,..”.
The Superstitious Man’s Story is just as descriptive but in a different way; it describes physically what it happening rather than what is going on in someone’s head. For instance: “…the bell that was ringing for church went very heavy all of a sudden…” “ While she ironed she heard him coming downstairs”.
The effect of the way they use the descriptive language is that the stories are much more exciting. The Superstitious Man’s Story is meant to be told as an oral story. I can tell this because the story starts and ends with speech marks. A narrator tells the Night Fears story. He is someone not involved in the story but is just telling what happens.
The suspense in The Superstitious Man’s Story starts at the very beginning from when you first find out that William Privett is a ghostly man; “there seemed to be something clammy in the air”, “when he came near ‘ee”. This builds tension because of the feeling that he is possibly an evil man or he will become evil.
Next we hear about the church bell becoming heavy “he had not known the bell to go so heavy in his hands for years”. “He felt it meant a death in the parish”. This mention of death so early on in the story builds up tension because of what people are thinking - a possible evil presence and death.
The next bout of tension is when Mrs Privett is ironing and William goes outside (this is normal) but she does not see him come back “as he had not come in she waited”. Then the anvil drops, “to her great surprise and, I might say, alarm on reaching the foot of the stairs his boots were standing there”. Now the readers know that William Privett is definitely a ghost or some spirit like creature.
The tension reaches its climax when you find out about the tradition at the parish on midsummer’s night. All those that are going to die this year are seen entering the church in a spirit form. Mrs Privett is speaking to a young girl, Nancy Weedle, who, with friends, had gone to watch this event happen. The tension is built up by Nancy telling Mrs Privett “and we were frightened enough, I can tell ‘ee by what we saw”. Then Mrs Privett guesses what she saw, “you saw my husband”. Now we know that Mr Privett will die. He is not evil, he is just going to be dead before the year is out.
But there is a complete contrast in Night Fears because the tension is almost non-existent at the beginning except in the title itself; you know something is going to happen. The first part of this story lulls you into a false sense of security. Later on, the suspense starts to build up because the stranger turns up. The first bit of suspense is because the Night Watchman says “strange I never heard him come” which makes you feel something is not quite right. The suspense builds up all the time because the stranger keeps telling the Night Watchman things about his wife cheating on him. He tells him that his children will grow up without him knowing him. “Why, they’ll grow up without knowing you”. He keeps putting doubts in the Night Watchman’s mind. Unfortunately, he builds up the tension until the Night Watchman kills himself.
Each story has a twist in the tail. The Superstitious Man’s Story is not such a shock because you can tell he is going to die almost from the beginning of the story so when he does die, it is not such a shock. However, in the Night Fears story is because we had no idea that the Night Watchman would kill himself.
In the first story, The Superstitious Man’s Story, it was obvious that William Privett would die. With the Night Fears story, the story ending I was expecting (that the stranger would be doing the killing) did not happen. The stranger did not turn round which gave me the impression he must have looked bad/evil/hideous. This made me expect he was going to kill the Night Watchman himself.
The way the story ends made me feel very excited because it was new and different. This shocks you and you remember the story much more.
I enjoyed the Night Fears story the most because I like the idea of having a ghost or monster which, in fact, is in your own mind. This prospect means that anything is possible in the story. The other thing that is interesting about this story is the fact that the first part lulls you into a false sense of security. Then in comes a mysterious character, which won’t turn round to face you, which tends to make you think something is going to happen. Then the bit that tops the story is the suicide; the fact that you were expecting the stranger to be doing the killing. Then the stranger just steps over the body, twice, without even flinching or getting help. All these points together made a very short but exciting read.
