Comparison of two ghost stories

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Introduction:

    A ghost story is a form of supernatural fiction, and is often a horror story. Ghosts often are the primary characters of the story and are usually presented with a background to create an element of mystery. Although ghost stories are mainly written to scare the reader, they can be written to serve all sorts of purposes, from comical to morality tales. Ghost stories may also feature hauntings of ghosts or spirits.

     Some ghost stories are often horror stories written to scare the reader, with a plot which revolves around a spirit and with the elements of guts, blood and escalating levels of fright, which are only mainly existent in horror stories. Horror stories involve the characters feeling escalating levels of fright. The reader identifies with the gradual feeling of dread and begins to feel the same. Horror stories do not have ghosts in them; they simply trigger some sort of fear response to the readers fear. The reader also generates their imagination to create some horrifying characters that truly scare.

    Ghost stories use ghosts in them to make them scary. The plot, which is revolved around the ghost in the story, often creates an element of mystery to what the ghost may want. A tale too outlandish is not a fine ghost story; neither is one of whose mysteries can be fully explained in the light of day. Ghosts may scare the reader as they are something that science cannot explain or understand. Nobody knows why or how ghosts exist in our world which contributes to the fear factor in ghost stories.

    Most ghost stories originate in the distant past, like the Shakespearian times. Telling ghost stories is an American phenomenon. Ghost stories have been around for centuries and are to stay around for centuries to come.

“Laura” by Saki.(H.H.Munro)

Summary of ‘Laura’:

This short story is witty and fast-moving. The central character Laura is dying, and is talking to her friend, Amanda, about reincarnation. Here Saki not only displays his unique wit, but also touches on elements of religion. Reincarnation could be seen as a rather scandalous idea in his day, yet by writing about it in an utterly British way, with wit rather than fervour, he makes it seem possible.

    Laura proclaims to Amanda that she would probably reincarnate into a lower organism, having been ‘mean and vindictive’ – especially to Amandas husband, Egbert. She suggests she may return as something lovely and playful, such as an otter. Then she says if she is a good otter she might return in human form, probably ‘a little brown, unclothed Nubian boy…’ Her friend Amanda rather laughs off Laura’s unorthodox ideas, but Laura is not bothered in fact, she inconveniences everyone by dying one day early.

    Immediately, an otter appears on the estate where Amanda lives with her husband, killing four of his ‘speckled Sussex’ and destroying his flower beds. The following Sunday, the same otter raids the larder, leaving bits of salmon on Egberts ‘Persian rug’.

     Egbert resolves to set the hounds on the otter which kill it. Amanda becomes later distraught when her friend and neighbour, Aurora Burret comments on how human the otter’s eyes looked before it died.

     Amanda, ‘who was one of those who shaped their opinions rather readily from the standpoint of those around them,’ became rather ill and was taken abroad by Egbert to recuperate.

     Whilst in Egypt, from in Egberts dressing room issued ‘a hurricane of shouted curses’. Amanda, with ‘amused curiosity’ asked what was wrong. Egbert announces that all of his clothes had been thrown in the bathtub by a ‘little beast of a naked Nubian boy’

    The story ends with ‘And now Amanda is seriously ill’.

    As well as the story being light hearted and humorous Saki also raises deeper questions about life after death, intelligence, precognition and existence.

    He does not dwell on these subjects but merely raises them for speculation in the readers’ minds. He teases with them, encouraging the reader to think for themselves.

Describe in what ways this is an unconventional ghost story:

    Laura is an unconventional ghost story. Laura does not conform to the gothic style as it does not have the genre that combines horror and romance. This story has been written to humour the reader and this is evident in the lack of the usual element - a ghost. The lack of this element and the elements of darkness, murder, bloodshed etc. make this an unconventional ghost story and this adds to the overall comic tone of the story. In gothic literature the dark, murky weather exists as an inseparable part, whereas in ‘Laura’ the weather is hardly mentioned, which also contributes to the light-hearted tone.

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    I would describe the overall tone as light-hearted and comical as the story was written mainly to mock the upper class society. The fact that the typical ghostly settings, dark, dull weather, evil presence and ghosts are non existent in ‘Laura’ contributes to the overall purpose of the text and the overall tone of the story.  

What evidence is there to suggest Saki wrote this story as a playful, satirical attack on Edwardian upper-class values? :

The purpose of the text Laura is to mock the upper class Edwardian society. The story is narrated in ...

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