- Location
- Characters
- Language
- Tension
Penelope Lively sets this short story in an old woman’s cottage, and on the track and surrounding area leading up to the cottage. This area is called “Packer’s End”. The writer uses just two words for impact on the reader. When the characters were younger, there was a fear of wolves and witches. Now, as the characters have grown up the wolves and witches have turned to rapists and assaults. In the cottage there is a smell of “cabbage”, some damp lino covering the floor and overgrown garden.
H.G.Wells sets this short story in a gloomy castle with “everything in vivid black shadow...” and all the rooms are dark and covered in shadow.
There are three main characters in this short story. They are Sandra, Kerry and Mrs. Rutter. Sandra is a young girl, probably in her early teens. She has “...bare brown legs brushing through the grass, polleny summer grass that glinted in the sun.” Innocent at the beginning of the story, but at the end of the story she becomes enlightened about the suffering in the world. Kerry is a young boy, probably about the same age as Sandra is. He has “...blacked licked-down hair and slitty eyes.” Also, “His chin was explosive with acne; at his middle, his jeans yawned from his T-shirt, showing pale chilly flesh.” Kerry is also innocent at the beginning of the story, but at the end of the story he becomes enlightened about the suffering in the world. Mrs. Rutter is an old lady who lives by herself in a cottage. She “...seemed composed of circles, a cottage-loaf of a woman, with a face below which chins collapsed one into another, a creamy smiling pool of a face in which her eyes snapped and darted.” She is the one with the knowledge in the story, and tells the children about the darkness in life.
There are four characters in this short story, none of which have names. There is a young man who is “eight-and-twenty years” old. There are three old people in the story as well, who are “grotesque custodians”, and appear to be deformed or injured. They are all mysterious characters, described by their physical appearance. This helps to establish tension within the story.
The language in this short story is more accessible and contemporary. There is more dialogue and it is more colloquial. As the children have featured as main characters in this story, this may of affected Penelope Lively’s choice of language. There are some interesting descriptions in this story, such as “wonky leg” and “blacked licked-down hair”.
The language in this short story is differently structured to The Darkness Out There and the words used are less commonly used today. Words such as “forgathered” and “postulated”. Some effective words and phrases that set the tone for a gothic horror feeling are “spiritual terrors”, “chilly and dusty” and “draughty subterranean passage”.
This story begins with comfortable feelings with the sun in a pleasant field, although introduced to Packer’s End. The reader is introduced to Packer’s End early on in the story as to prepare for something unpleasant later on in the story. The tension increases as the children find out about the wood and Mrs. Rutter.
In this short story there is tension in it right from the start, when the young man is describing the three old people. The tension increases even more as the story progresses. H.G.Wells also builds up tension by using words like “hastily” and “dashed”. He also uses suspense and the uncomfortable feeling of darkness.
