Melissa Gibbs/ English Coursework.
How does H.G Wells creates and sustains suspense throughout “The Red Room”?
The title "The Red Room" attracts the reader's attention straight away, as it is symbolic but leaves questions that you cannot answer yourself such as, what is the red room? , Why is it red? Red is sometimes thought of as fear and even danger. The title leaves a lot of curiosity to the reader, and may make them want to read it and answer their questions. The author has to make the reader keep reading the story and keep them interested. To do this, things such as tension should be used. The tension should sometimes be maintained throughout the whole story, so the reader wants to know what’s going to happen, but it can also stop for a while, and then be built it up again to surprise the reader. By adding more tension, little by little, the story gets tenser but the reader is also reminded of the excitement as they are released from the tension sometimes. In a short story, the reader will be able to have a strong influence from the writer's first and last lines. This makes them very important and they are well thought out. The first line in the Red Room is, “I can assure you,' said I, 'that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.' And I stood up before the fire with my glass in my hand." From this first line, the reader can gather two bits of information. Firstly, that this story involves a ghost, and secondly that the character is an educated man. This already creates tension by mentioning a ghost, and it should make the reader want to carry on. Also, as it is a short story, it gets straight to the point. The story in the first page introduces four characters. A young man, an old man, his wife, and another old man. We never know their names. The young man is unsure about the red room being haunted. The three older people believe that it is haunted and do not want to even go there, and don’t. Opposites build drama and drama builds tension. This is a good example of how opposites build tension. Firstly, we have the young against the old. Writers to build tension also use repetition. One example is on the first page: "It's your own choosing." The old man is trying to warn the young man but at the same time he is leaving the decision to him. It is as if the three old people are dropping the responsibility of the young man from themselves. It is their duty, as if they are guardians, to warn the man of death as they think that is what is going to happen. Another use of repetition is on page two where the old woman keeps on repeating, "this night of all nights." We never find out why that night is important. This could be because the writer wants you to read it, so people might read it to find out why the night was important.
