H.G.Wells creates suspense through the way the story is structured. We follow the narrator’s journey which starts with the custodians. These two sets of characters have very opposing opinions of the castle, the custodians “Never seen the likes of this house” and the narrator “it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me” This helps add to the suspense because we realise something must happen to resolve this disagreement or else the writer would not have introduced them like so.
The custodians add fear to the story because they seem almost “spectral” We never learn of their names, instead we know them by their descriptions “the man with the withered arm” The use of the word “withered” instead of say “broken” gives us a very strong image of this crippled man with a limp decrepit arm. The custodian’s lack of identity results in us wondering why they don’t have names, it’s as though they have a secret or are hiding something. As we read on the writer creates tension through these characters because they talk in an odd manner, all secretive and knowingly “it’s of your own choosing”. It’s as though they are incapable of saying much else except a single repeated phrase, they appear unreal and seem somehow joined to the castle.
The narrator is then left to enter the passage on his own because the custodians refused to accompany him. This isolation allows H.G.Wells to incorporate the odd twist and turn to heighten the readers fear “and [I] stopped…listening to a rustling…satisfied of the absolute silence” and “[I] stopped abruptly...hidden from me…shadow fell…someone waiting to waylay me” This show how the narrator is doubting his senses even before he has reached the red room, his certainty of himself wavers slightly and we realise that he isn’t as bold and unnerved as we first may of thought leading us to think that he is in actual danger. With each step of the narrator’s journey towards the red room the tension increases, once within it the story reaches its climax.
This is similar to “The Whole Town’s Sleeping” because we also follow the main character-Lavinia’s journey. The writer Ray Bradbury has done this by involving the reader through the way Lavinia counts the steps left to travel. As her journey continues the writer inputs very tense moments such as the “old ghost story” she tells herself, this straight away increases the tension because as the reader we make the ironic link between the “old ghost story” and Lavinia’s situation. The sudden last sentence “ “I got you” ” followed by “she screamed” makes us fear for her because we are expecting something similar to happen to her. The suspense continues to heighten throughout the story “someone’s following me” “Faster. Faster” This use of repetition encourages us to read on to discover Lavinia’s fate. Ray Bradbury helps this throughout the structure by shortening the sentence lengths so as our eyes skim over the lines faster. The story continues like this until finally she reaches her house and for a few seconds the tension drops “Home. Oh safe at home” only to reach it’s climax when she continues to use the word “safe” and as the reader we suddenly realise with a jolt of fear that she is not safe and that something shall now happen which raises the tension to it’s final limit.
The use of all the words such as “faster” “safe” “home” are all very basic words so it’s easy to tell that this is a story of the 20th centaury because unlike “The Red Room” it doesn’t use long descriptive words and drawn out sentences. However this type of language used in “The Red Room” is typical of it’s time “eight and twenty years” “sconce” “Ganymede and Eagle”, this shows the period this story is set in.
Although the language used in "The Red Room" is quite old fashioned it still plays a major part in adding to the tension. I think that H.G.Wells succeeds in using images of light versus dark to create fear for us. Imagery such as “my candle was a little tongue of light in it’s vastness that failed to pierce the opposite end of the room”. This immediately conjures up an image of a minute amount of light in a vast space, we see this small light fighting against the looming blackness. The word “tongue” makes us realise the narrator’s dependence on the candlelight because although the tongue is only a small part of the body, it is important for survival because without it we could not eat properly. The light seems almost comforting to him, which resembles "The Whole Town's Sleeping" for she too finds the light comforting however in her case their isn’t any. “…the lights…gone”. The word “gone” suggests being regretful about something leaving, in Lavinia’s state she craves for the light to return to create some comfort for her “And perhaps a thousand miles away…under a naked light bulb” This shows that she knows this is not possible so her thoughts drift to another more bearable place in which there is light, as though this “naked light bulb” could conquer any danger.
H.G.Wells manages to create fear through use of personification “The shadows I feared and fought against returned and crept in upon me”. This helps form a vivid image and we can picture these shadows enclosing on him, we realise that the writer perceives the room as alive. The word “enclosing” rather than “closing in” or “circled” suggests Being trapped and helpless
