Explore the themes of justace and things not being as they seem in The three Strangers by Thomas Hardy and The Darkness out there by Penelope Lively

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Will Drew

Wide Reading Coursework

 ‘The Three Strangers’ is a pre 20th century story that was written in 1883 but set in 1820. ‘The Darkness Out There’ was written in 1970. From the titles of the stories we assume they would be a mystery or horror story. We think this because the word ‘darkness’ is used and this gives you the idea that it is a horror. The ‘Three Strangers’ makes it seem mysterious, because they are people you don’t know and there are three of them, this makes them seem overpowering because of the number of them.  

The similarities that happen in the two stories are the characters that are introduced seem as if they are the villain at first but then they turn out to be the hero of the story. Kerry in ‘The Darkness Out There’ and Timothy Summers (first stranger) in the ‘Three Strangers’ both fit in with the part of being misjudged. In the stories there are some parts which are similar. In ‘The Darkness Out There’ the German pilot was killed, and in ‘The Three Strangers’ Timothy Summers was almost killed by the executioner for stealing a sheep. Both stories have similarities in the way they are written. They have been written so that the reader makes a mistake in thinking that one of the characters is bad when they are really the hero of the story.

‘The Three Strangers’ was set in 1820 in a place, Thomas Hardy made up called Wessex. The setting was out on the moors in the cold, wind and rain, there was a very secluded and desolate house called Higher Crowstairs this was about five miles of rocky moor land away from the town of Casterbridge. In ‘The Darkness Out There’ we assume it is set in the 1960’s because the story is telling the tale of an old lady Mrs Rutter, who is talking about her past (about 25years before) and there is the German pilot that had been shot down. The story is set around a wood called Packers End, but it is also set around a cottage that lies next to Packers End.

The only other similarity in the two stories is that they are both set around a cottage otherwise there seem to be no other similarities between the stories. The writers have chosen these settings because they have a dark and mysterious feel to them, even though in ‘The Darkness Out There’ it starts with Sandra, the girl in it, walking on a hot day through a field with flowers around her and the wind blowing in her hair, but then she gets to the wood and immediately it becomes more of a spooky setting. In ‘The Three Strangers’ you can see straight away that the setting is mysterious because it is misty rainy and windy and these combined give the feeling of an eerie setting.

In both stories there is a character that is introduced that seems to be one thing but then turns out to be another. Sandra in ‘The Three Strangers’ seems to be the nice character as she goes to the Good Neighbours Club and she seems generally a nice person, but then we find out that Sandra was only going to the Good Neighbours Club because her friends were doing it and she said its was kind of a trend. When Kerry appears we think of him as being the bad guy of the story and we immediately find out that he has a sense of humour, he jumps out of a bush to make Sandra jump, but almost immediately after he offers Sandra some chocolate even though she insults him. After this our opinions of Kerry start to change. Mrs Rutter first appears as a kind lady, a “cottage loaf of a woman” but then when the children start to do the jobs for her the real side of Mrs Rutter is seen. She says to Sandra “there’s only me to see if you show a bit of bum dear” this makes her seem to be strange to say that to a young girl. We also get an impression that she is not just a normal, nice old woman because “her eyes snapped and darted” you would think this sounds like a predator that was looking for its prey. Then they find out about Mrs Rutter killing the German pilot and this has now showed us that what they first thought was a nice old lady was really a callous, cruel and malicious old woman.

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In ‘The Three Strangers’ Timothy Summers (the first stranger) seems to be a polite and good mannered man but when he was approaching the house he was acting shifty this makes everyone think he was the escaped prisoner but when he gets inside our opinions of him start to change. When he asked to enter the house his rich deep voice said “friends, I ask leave to come in and rest a while” and Shepherd Fennel agreed and let the man in. Inside the man’s manner changed slightly as he relaxes in the chimney corner but his mind was still ...

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