Comparison of ‘The Red Room’ By H.G. Wells and ‘Farthing House’ by Susan Hill.

Room or the presence within.

The setting is also important for creating an atmosphere and creating the needed

tension.

The surroundings also help setting the atmosphere. In 'Farthing House' there is

a graveyard near the destination the character is heading, and there is a contrast

between the outside and inside of the house. The time of the story is in late

autumn, this can be related to the season of death. This and the graveyard,

together create a negative feeling about the expectations of Farthing House. The

actual house itself is also in an isolated area, with little other presence around,

and the character in the story highlights this point

"It was very quiet, very out of the way."

This gives a feeling of being alone, with no help available if needed.

'The Red Room' does not describe the outside as the story starts inside the

house. The initial atmosphere is set by the characters and how the talk of the red

room. One of the characters has a withered arm which is unpleasant, and as he

enters the room the door squeaks, giving the impression that the house is old, as

are most things in ghosts stories.

"...and the door creaked on it's hinges as a second old man entered..."

The feeling of isolation is in 'Farthing House' is also present in 'The Red Room'.

The man who comes to investigate is advised not to go near the room and he

feels like they are against him, so he only has himself to rely on.

"I half suspected the old people were trying enhance the spiritual terrors of their

house..."

This helps build the tension by making the main character a solo investigator,

and most people, if in the same position as the main character of the story would

not want to be in that scenario, most people would go with someone else or in a

group.

A main theme of FH is family. The character is going to see her Aunt. In the

beginning of the story she is on her way, but puts off the actual visit, wasting

time by looking around the village and stopping at shops.

" I had stopped twice, once in a village, once in a small market town, and

explored churches and little shops...."

She uses the excuse of the weather being good, but this can be seen as a lousy

excuse. This gives the reader the impression that the character is trying to avoid

something and makes the reader dawn on suspicions of the destination.

This is a contrast with 'TRR' because the character is very insistent to get where

he wants to go.

Another main theme of both stories are ghosts. This creates tension as from the

moment the reader starts reading the story they expect to read of an encounter

or something alike with a ghost /s. It makes the reader read on, making them

want to know what will happen next, and when the actual encounter will occur.

Both stories are similar in the way that they keep the final conclusion until the

end.

In 'TRR' the conclusion is made that there isn't actually any ghost but it is the

fear factor that actually scares people.

"The worst of all things that haunt poor mortal man,' said I; 'and that is, in all its

nakedness- Fear!"

I think this a good ending to the story as I , personally do not believe in ghosts,

and the point of the story is part of the argument against the existence of ghosts.

It is also a good point because it shows just how much one can be in fear- at the

beginning of the story the man says:

"... 'It will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.' "

And in the end he is proved wrong.

In 'F.H' the answer to the cause of existence of a ghost is answered;

"A young women stole a baby...

Her address was given as Farthing house Close, Little Dornford."

This shows the history of the ghost.

Each story has a certain amount of success. The RR, for me is more succesful

than FH as it ended in a way you wouldn't expect. In FH I was expecting an

encounter with the ghost but it wasn't what I expected and didn't do much to

scare me.