In the following essay I will be comparing two books from the ghost story genre: "The Red Room" written by HG Wells in 1896 and "Farthing House" written by Susan Hill in 1992.

Authors Avatar

06-10-02             English Comparative essay           James Smith

       In the following essay I will be comparing two books from the ghost story genre: “The Red Room” written by HG Wells in 1896 and “Farthing House” written by Susan Hill in 1992.

        Howard George Wells was born in Kent in 1846. He did well at school and went on to University getting BSC in Science. He wrote over a hundred books in his life including “The Time Machine”, “The Invisible Man” and “The War of the Worlds”. Unlike some writers he was very popular in his own lifetime and was very wealthy by the time he died in 1946.

        Susan Hill is an award winning author who was born in Scarborough in 1942. She has written many books such as “A Change for the Better” and “Strange Meeting”. Her most famous book is “I’m The King of the Castle” which she wrote in 1970. Her books are mainly aimed at children and she is currently married to Stanley Wells a Shakespearian actor.

          In “The Red Room” an arrogant young man arrives at an old Castle to disprove claims that it is haunted. He meets the three elderly caretakers, dismisses their warnings and sets off for the room where the supposed ghost resides. He becomes slightly scared soon after entering the room and lights a group of candles so that their light will calm and reassure him. They quickly start to go out and the young man rushes to keep them lit becoming ever more scared as he does so. Eventually unable to restrain himself any longer he rushes to the door of the room but is mysteriously knocked unconscious before he can get out and wakes up the next morning in the care of the old people. He now believes there is a ghost and is humbled by the experience.

          “Farthing House” is about a young woman who is recollecting a story from when she went to visit her aunt in a nursing home. She detects a curious sense of melancholy shortly after her arrival and over the next couple of nights she sees the ghost of a young girl. Later on she finds out the girl was a young mother who had lost her baby many years earlier. She had been staying at Farthing House when it was a home for mothers with illegitimate children. At the end of the story there is a twist as the narrator tells us what made her remember the events. She had just seen an item on the news about another young woman who stole a baby from outside a shop and later gave her address as Farthing House although by now it had been demolished.

Join now!

          Both of the stories contain some elements that are typical of the “ghost story” genre. They are both set mainly at night with all of the scary parts happening at night (the young mans experiences in the Red Room and when the woman sees the ghost)

06-10-02              Comparative essay Pg.2               James Smith

There are, naturally, dead people in each (those who died in the Red Room and the young girl in Farthing House). There is a particular “spooky” room in each ...

This is a preview of the whole essay