Examine three different ghost stories; how successfully have the authors involved the readers in their story? Which story seems to make the best use of suspense?
English Coursework
Examine three different ghost stories; how successfully have the authors involved the readers in their story? Which story seems to make the best use of suspense?
The three ghost stories that we have examined are 'The Signalman', 'Turn of the screw' and 'The Girl I Left Behind Me'. 'The Signalman' is a short story written in 1866 by Charles Dickens. 'Turn Of The Screw' is a novella written in 1898 by Henry James. 'The Girl I Left Behind Me' is another short story written in 1957 by Muriel Spark.
There are two characters in 'The Signalman', himself and the narrator. The narrator meets the Signalman at a railway cutting and is strangely received by the Signalman. The narrator returns the next day to here the Signalman's story. The Signalman tells him of the haunting that he has been experiencing recently at the cutting. The spectres seemed to foretelling a tragedy that is going to occur. Previous prophesies have turned out when a woman dies at the cutting and it is just time before the Signalman's death comes just as predicted.
The Signalman is articulate in that he explains everything clearly. For example he describes things in such clear detail it was as if he were commentating on it. One example is on page 172 the paragraph beginning, 'One moonlight night,' he goes on in such detail- '...and (I) saw this someone else standing by the red light... waving as I just now showed you. The voice seemed hoarse with shouting...'. I think that a certain amount of this involves the reader well because if there isn't any descriptive detail the reader doesn't feel part of the plot. Too much however can slow down the plot and the reader can feel that they are getting bored and bogged down in unnecessary detail.
He has been educated well but has fallen in society to a lowlier job. The narrator tells us this three quarters of the way down page 264, 'He had also worked at fractions and decimals, and tried a little algebra'.
The narrator has been recovering from an illness and it tells us this at the beginning. He is a gentleman, articulate, reliable, intelligent and ready to listen but there is a rather strange element of puzzle about the narrator.
It is written cleverly in a slightly poetic language, for example the chiasmus in the first paragraph. Even though there is some ambiguity and disorientation in the story.
It is mainly informative dialogue. It is based around the railway line and cutting. It is a very atmospheric environment, it's isolated, dank, claustrophobic and shadowed. We are given vivid descriptions of the box describing the levers and bell etc. A clear, sharp image makes it more shocking. The setting creates suspense and also the fact that we are told very little about each of the characters. It uses a very immediate start without giving an introduction, which may be boring to read and put the reader off.
Dickens had been recently in a train crash when he wrote this and the readers will know this so it in a way adds an air of mystery and 'this could happen to me' feeling about it.
Dickens involves the reader by using vivid language well. For example the beginning where Dickens gives a description of the cutting so that it almost makes you shiver, 'He was a dark sallow man, with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows...dripping-wet wall of jagged stone... crooked prolongation of this great dungeon'. Dickens uses zigzag and crooked a lot, this ...
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Dickens had been recently in a train crash when he wrote this and the readers will know this so it in a way adds an air of mystery and 'this could happen to me' feeling about it.
Dickens involves the reader by using vivid language well. For example the beginning where Dickens gives a description of the cutting so that it almost makes you shiver, 'He was a dark sallow man, with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows...dripping-wet wall of jagged stone... crooked prolongation of this great dungeon'. Dickens uses zigzag and crooked a lot, this adds sharpness to it.
The suspense is created when the narrator is talking to the signalman in his box about the ghosts and you don't know whether the signalman is mad or telling the harsh reality.
Turn of the screw is about a young, inexperienced governess who is charged with the care of Miles and Flora, two small children abandoned by their uncle at his grand country house. The two children appear to be very sweet children but there is a sinister side to them.
When Douglas gets round to telling us the story we get a first person narrative from the governess of her stay at Bly, the country house at which the story is set.
The governess gets a letter saying that the boy has been expelled 'The child's dismissed his school'. This was the child that was supposed to be sweet and angelic. James uses unpredictability here to hold the reader.
When a ghost appears to the Governess she strangely doesn't get too worried about it. The governess almost falls in love with the children and then she becomes more protective of the children when she thinks that the ghosts are out to get the children. Flora is ill and has to leave the mansion but there has been some bad feeling between her and the Governess. This was due to the children trying to contact the ghosts who turn out to be their old Governess and Master. She tries to protect Miles at the end and it is all a bit strange, but she tries to hard and Miles breathes his last.
There is a most obvious part telling us that the governess is inexperienced, 'Flora, whom, ten minutes before, I had established in the school room... a copy of nice 'round O's'.' This maybe James trying to convey to us that the governess is inexperienced or maybe she is being troubled. James could be using this to get the reader interested. I think that James uses the strangeness and abnormality of the governess to involve the reader. A ghost story where everyone is normal except the ghosts can be a bit predictable, the plot could turn out that one of the characters in the first two chapters could be a ghost (like 'The Girl I Left Behind Me').
The opening of the book starts with a man called Douglas talking to some friends in a country house. They are telling each other ghost stories and it is his turn to tell a story. He is reminded of a story someone once told him and he writes to get it, 'The story's written. It's in a locked drawer... I can write to my man and enclose the key....
I think that the beginning of story is very cleverly written. It involves the reader in a clever way; he does it by making the reader feel part of the group that Douglas is talking to as a friend. You feel part of the story, and you get the same suspense that the friends get when he doesn't have the story and you eagerly want to here the story due to the build up. The build up to the story lasts eight pages and it is surprising that James can hold the reader for that long, it's all due to the skill of James building up the suspense. James can also control your thoughts by what the other friends are saying and they help to build up the suspense. The importance of the constant deferral to Douglas' narrative is that it gives effect.
James uses suspense all throughout the story one good example of this is the last three paragraphs of chapter two. Mrs. Grose is describing the death of Miss. Jessel, 'But our young lady never came back... she was dead...but please Miss...(putting off the conversation)...I must get to my work'.
James uses lots of unpredictability's to make the reader feel vaguely uneasy. The Governess turns out to be the wrong person for the job. She has come from a poorer background, and she has obviously not had experience in being a governess but she is young and keen to prove herself to her employer who has a crush on her. She is unreliable and this is shown clearly when she takes in all the surroundings as if it were a fairytale, this puts her in a false sense of security. At the beginning Flora reverses the roles and leads the governess around the large house and almost being governess to her, 'young as she was I was struck, throughout our little tour, with her confidence and courage'. She says the beginning had 'been a succession of flights and drops'. She is likely to emphasise things due to her having gone through some high and low points over the first day or two.
Miles is very grown up but strange and he is very precocious and condescending calling the governess 'My Dear' and treating her as though he was the governess talking to her as a pupil. Flora is sweet, 'She (Flora) was the most beautiful child I have ever seen'. She is unreliable when she is discussing the ghosts.
When she sees Quint whom she doesn't know she just dismisses him. Another reason why she is unreliable is that she has been having some distressing news from home. Mrs. Grose tells us that Miles was friendly with Quint and Flora with Miss. Jessel. Flora grows a disliking for the governess when they meet at the lake because of her referring to Miss Jessel. There is a lot of action from the ghosts but no dialogue. The Governess undermines herself by things she says.
The Girl I Left Behind Me, is about a lady who works in an office with her employer. He has been acting rather strangely during the day but she takes this as normal. She is on her way home when she realises that she has left something of importance behind her. When she returns the next morning it turns out to be her body.
It is a strange story but cleverly written. There are only two scenes, the one in the office and the one when she is going home. The paragraphs are used so that one paragraph is describing the day at the office while the next one is describing the journey home. The best example of this is fifth to eighth paragraph, 'As usual I did not get a seat... That morning I had arrived at the office... As I swayed on the bus... By noon Mr Letter had calmed down a little...'. I think that this effect of constantly moving between scenes gives a sense that you are moving. This is another good technique because it is a way of involving the reader. It makes you think that you aren't just there sitting and listening to some talk about there day at work.
Mark Letter is a strange man and she describes him as one, 'Mr Letter had been whistling it all throughout the day between his noisy telephone calls and his dreamy sessions'.
The narrator is very observant and interested in Mr Letter. She describes him in a lot of detail as though she were beginning to fall in love with him. Lots of description in a short time can be monotonous and difficult to read 'But Mr Letter and his tune, and his sudden moods of bounce, and his sudden lapses into lassitude, his sandy hair and little bad teeth, roused my resentment...'.
It is a very interwoven story making it more interesting to read. The tune that he mainly whistles is 'The Girl I Left Behind Me' and that is the title of the story and that is what we find out that she has left behind. It also makes the reader think that the story is about some man going of to the war and leaving his girlfriend behind. Which is the song that she was referring to. She also embraces the body at the end like a lover. She works for Mr Letter and she mentions that she thought that she had forgotten to post a letter that she had written. The tune he had whistled the day before was 'Softly, Softly, Turn The Key' she says this to herself when she gets home, 'Softly I said to myself, softly turn the key'. She says it when she returns as well, 'Softly, softly, I said to myself as I turned the key'. There is a twist in the tale, which can be described as the turn of the key.
The signalman involves the reader by using a colourful poetic language that almost covers up the ghost story at the beginning to get the readers involved in the story. He uses suspense to get the readers really hooked because they know something strange is happening but are not quite sure what. Dickens uses a very immediate start that makes it quite ambiguous as to what's happening which again hooks the reader.
I think that Turn Of The Screw involves the reader very well. James keeps the reader fixed at the beginning using suspense and build-up. Once the reader is into the story then the originality of the story makes it gripping and involving. James uses the governess to involve the reader by using the first person narrative. James wrote it at a time when country houses were common and it would relate to them well. They would be involved by the possibility of them being in a similar situation.
The Girl I Left Behind Me also uses ambiguity to involve the reader. It seems uncannily strange that she should be having a normal day yet the reactions of those around her are very strange. Spark writes in a way that involves the reader by not spending much time describing tedious detail. She writes for her era and the setting would be common and not be boring to the reader. She uses suspense cleverly by switching between two scenes; this means that the reader seems to be moving along with the story and not stuck in one place.
I think that the Turn Of The Screw involves the reader the best because of the way in which James writes so captivatingly.
I think that The Girl I Left Behind Me uses the best use of suspense because of the constant movement in the story between paragraphs, which make the reader read through each paragraph to get to the next one to find out what happened. We keep reading through the story to find out what is going on due to the ambiguity giving suspense.
Timothy Dry 10R
