M.R. James was born in 1862 and died in 1936, in Cambridge. He was the vice chancellor of the University of Cambridge. Among his writings are ‘Ghost Stories Of An Anti-quarry” as well as “A Thin Ghost”.
The story of “Lost Hearts” opens on a September evening, outside an old gothic manor house. A post-chaise arrives and a little boy emerges, ready to meet his new guardian, his elderly cousin Mr Abney. Stephen Elliot is an orphan, and it is strange why his cousin would suddenly take an interest in bringing up a child. Stephen meets Mrs Bunch, a friendly house servant, who tells Stephen about a boy and a girl who were previously taken in by Mr Abney. Mysteriously, they ran away. That night Stephen has a dream in which he sees the mummified body of a child. He then awakens in a passageway and finds scratches on his door, and rips in this nightgown. The following morning Mr Abney is particularly interested to hear about Stephens dream and notes the details down. Mr Abney then asks Stephen to meet him that night, at 11 o’clock, in his study. Stephen is told not to inform anyone. As Stephen gets up that night to meet his cousin, he hears moaning, and from the window he can see two illuminated images. The images of a boy, and a girl, they appear transparent like. Stephen reaches the study, and forces himself in, to find the body of the late Mr Abney. A letter beside him explains that he had killed to children, and was planning on Stephen being his next victim, in a desperate quest for superhuman powers.
The writer chooses to open the setting of “The Red Room” in a gothic castle. The narrator is in the company of two old people, and standing by the fire. One man, who is only ever referred to as ‘the man with the withered arm’, and a woman with ‘wide, pale eyes’. Another man enters, ‘the man with the shade’, he is described as being even more aged, decaying, and wrinkled, he also uses a single crutch. By describing the characters in such a way, emphasising their age and giving them a more hostile edge towards the narrator, the writer is setting more of a sinister atmosphere. The writer of “Lost Hearts” also uses the setting to add an edge to the story, which helps to build tension.
M.R. James sets the story of “Lost Hearts” in September, he chose this month because it is the beginning of the autumn, the time when the trees and plants are starting to die, to loose their leaves. A single boy, arriving at a manor house in a post-chaise. At first very little information is given about the boy, instead the writer chooses to go into more detail about the house. By doing this the writer adds an element of mystery to the boy, the reader starts to think why is the boy here, why did he arrive alone. Arousing the reader’s attention, to things such as, why did the boy come here, is a good way of building an atmosphere. Another way to create an atmosphere is by building in strange events, this idea is used in “The Red Room”.
One technique used is including strange events, which is particularly employed by Wells, in “The Red Room”, when the characters give repeated warnings of a tragedy to come. An example of this is when the old woman repeats ‘this night of all nights’, meaning he shouldn’t enter the room, especially on that night. The man with the withered arm also repeats ‘it’s your own choosing’. This shows the old people obviously don’t approve of the narrators decision to spend a night in the room, and also warn him against the dangers which will befall him if he does not heed their advice. An element of hubris is added, when the narrator ignores the warnings, because even though something terrible is clearly about to happen he appears oblivious to it and insists on carrying on. This technique is also used in M.R. James’s “Lost Hearts”
In this story, “Lost Hearts”, the author uses strange events to make the reader aware of what is happening, or what might have happened. For example the housekeeper, Mrs Bunch, mentions that both a girl and boy had previously been taken in by Mr Abney, on separate occasions. Both these children mysteriously disappeared; Mrs Bunch however is adamant that they ran away. ‘And he was off one fine morning just the same as the little girl.’ Like in “The Red Room” M.R. James has built hubris into the story, it does occur to either Mrs Bunch, or Stephen that there should be anything strange about the children disappearing. The two characters carry on, with no idea of what is going to happen, whereas the reader is aware that some sort of tragedy will occur. By using hubris a lot of tension is added to the story, another author’s build tension is with the way in which they use language in their writing.
One way writers create or build tension is with the use of language. Repetition is used to emphasise the importance of something. In “Lost Hearts”, Mr Abney repeatedly questions Stephen about his age, ‘and how old are you my boy?’ ‘sure it’s twelve? Certain?’. By using language in this way M.R. James, in this case, is trying to point out that it is strange that Mr Abney should be so anxious about his cousin’s age. H.G. Wells also uses repetition in order to strengthen an atmosphere or create tension.
In “The Red Room” the author repeats certain phrases to build tension. By adding repeated warnings an atmosphere is created. “’I said – it’s your own choosing’, said the man with the withered arm”. The writer, like M.R. James, is using these repetitions to draw the reader’s attention to the obvious, danger which the narrator cannot seem to see. H.G. Wells also uses imagery in his writing. It is another technique he uses to build tension.
Writers use various techniques to display tension in mystery stories, for example the use of strange characters, the old decrepit people in “The Red Room” and Mr Abney in “Lost Hearts”. Strange events and settings are also common features that writers like M.R. James and H.G. Wells use in their stories to build atmosphere. By employing these techniques writers are able to draw the reader into the story and allow them to feel what the characters are feeling.