The language adds to the ways in which a climate of fear is created in the black cat. It’s quite old fashioned, for example, the words used: ‘hitherto’, ‘wrath’ and ‘uplifting an axe’. The sentences are long and complex. There are chilling references to ‘the corpse’ and references to evil- ‘demoniacal’. It’s a very cold tone. This put together creates tension.
This is quite a traditional horror story as the woman is the victim. It’s old fashioned and very chilling because the way the police operate, they ask him to help them by taking part in the investigation; ‘The officers bade me accompany them in their search’. This is chilling because the police have no idea and they too could be in danger.
The Power Cut also uses the setting to create fear. The exterior is dark and storm-isolated. The storm seems to try to invade the house, there’s a sense of fear and threat here; “The wind, like a flapping blanket, beat and thrashed and swung and slapped and buffeted, making each casement rattle, every door sway and creak.” The interior is also dark; it’s damp and un-lived in. Then when the power goes off this seems really scary.
This story uses the victim also. But there are three victims- the cat, the old lady and the father. All the victims suffer because of the son. When the boy was four years old he blinded his father with a can of aerosol oven-spray.
‘ “For heaven’s sake, he was only a tiny boy then, four years old-
He didn’t know what he was doing-”
A spoilt, strong, tyrannical four-year-old with a grievance and a can of aerosol oven-spray.’
‘Twenty years of not being able to see.’
The father’s blindness makes him vulnerable, the others are also weak which allows them to become victims. Because of the son, the mother and father’s marriage has broken down. We do have quite a lot of sympathy for all the victims but especially the father because we get to know him a bit, he’s had a rough time and he’s vulnerable; “He felt his way along the side of the kitchen, navigating by the feel of the smooth, square metal shapes.”
The villain in this story is the son. He is dead before the story begins, we only hear about him from his parents talking about him and on the answering machine. All through his life his behaviour has been appalling. In death, the sons voice on the answering machine is as if he’s reaching out from beyond the grave his voice is menacing and creepily mocking . The old lady and the cat also become villains. The old lady has become a ghost and is scaring the father. The cat has become quite menacing in death.
“the howl of a cat, the loud, resonant, desperate wauling cry of a cat that has been shut up in a box or basket and is frantic to get out.”
The language used in the power cut is very descriptive and creates a lot of tension. The author has used some powerful verbs. He has also used personification to describe the weather for example: ‘The wind, like a flapping blanket, beat and thrashed and swung and slapped and buffeted making each casement rattle, every door sway and creak. The wind sighed in the chimney, clanked in the pipes, and gibbered in the TV aerial. Rain slammed on to the slates, and dashed in cascades against the stuttering windows’. This story also uses a flashback technique. It’s written in first person narrative like The Black Cat. We know it’s quite a modern story as there are references to modern electrical gadgets like the dishwasher and the answering machine. We also know that the wife has had an affair.
The Landlady in a sense uses the setting but in a completely different way to the other two stories. It’s a nice house, one of a terrace; it doesn’t look any different from the others. It’s a domestic space; it’s warm and cosy. There’s a fire and pets. “the first thing he saw was a bright fire burning in the hearth. On the carpet in front of the fire, a pretty little dachshund was curled up asleep with it’s nose tucked into its belly. When Billy goes in and gets shown around there’s a turned down bed all ready for him. “He noticed that the bedspread had been taken off the bed, and that the bedclothes had been neatly turned back on one side, all ready for someone to get in.”
This story uses the victim well to create a sense of fear. We feel a lot of sympathy for him as we get to know him. We know that something bad is going to happen to him. He’s a young man, only seventeen, going on a business trip on his own in a big city at night. He doesn’t know the place or anyone there. No one knows where he is or where he’s going to stay. We know that he’s nervous but exited-he’s trying to be ‘brisk!’ I feel quite scared for him when reading this story. Billy being very vulnerable it seems builds tension.
The villain in this story isn’t typical of a horror story. The villain is a middle-aged woman. When we are introduced to her at first she’s totally polite, concerned for the young man and very welcoming. She seems motherly in a way, and overly nice. “ “It’s all ready for you, my dear,” she said. She had a round pink face and very gentle blue eyes.” There’s no anger or physical violence involved. It’s very sinister; this is probably the scariest thing about the story. “She seemed terribly nice. She looked exactly like the mother of one’s best school-friend welcoming one into the house to stay for the Christmas holidays.” All might not be as it seems when Billy says to the Landlady: “I should’ve thought you’d be simply swamped with applicants.” And she then replies: “Oh, I am, my dear, I am, of course I am. But the trouble is that I’m inclined to be just a teeny weeny bit choosy and particular-if you see what I mean.”
‘The Landlady’ is written in third person narrative also. It’s very descriptive, but doesn’t use metaphorical language; it’s all very matter-of-fact. It creates a feeling of things being ultra-normal for example-the fire, the dog and the tea tray. It’s an old-fashioned story but also modern too. It’s old-fashioned in the sense that it’s set in around the forties. It says that the young man, Billy is dressed in a suit and wearing a trilby. But it’s also modern in the way the killer is a woman, this is presented as being more acceptable. This isn’t very traditional or typical for a horror story. I suppose that’s what makes this story seem quite creepy and strange.
A climate of fear is created in all of these stories quite well. The one that I think is the most effective would have to be ‘The Landlady’ -it’s very sinister, out of the ordinary and not very traditional. I like the way in which the author has chosen a woman to be the villain because it’s not really expected.
