“Of all the beastly-slushy, out-of-the-way places to live in, this is the worst… I suppose because only two houses in the road are let…”
W.W.Jacobs is showing the reader that there are only two houses on the whole road. This is vital for the plot of the story, because nobody but the married couple witnessed their son come back alive. The description of the road outside also gives the story a dark and dangerous edge to it, even though the story is still in its early stages.
The opening line of The Red Room is very similar to that of The Monkey’s Paw.
“‘I can assure you,’ said I, ‘that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.’”
H.G.Wells is straight to the point and also wastes no time to introduce the reader to the story. The very first line has a supernatural device inserted into it, and the subject of ghosts has already popped up in the very first line. Because it is a short story, H.G.Wells does not waste time in adding irrelevant information. The description of the residents of the house are very unusual looking.
“ ‘It is your own choosing,’ said the man with the withered arm, and glanced at me askance.’”
‘the withered arm’ is a very weird characteristic for a person to have, this is an example of another supernatural device inserted by H.G.Wells. There is a sense of strangeness to the whole of the house and the residents living in it as well. The residents do not appear to be human and the description of the house is over-emphasised.
The characters in both stories add supernatural tension effectively. In the Red Room, the residents of the household are all described as mutants and inhumane.
“…the door creaked on its hinges as a second old man entered, more bent, more wrinkled, more aged even than the first.”
The author is over-exaggerating the appearance of this man in order to create supernatural feeling. The author repeats the word ‘more’ a few times. This also creates a supernatural feeling in the story and the word ‘more’ emphasis the appearance of the old man. W.W.Jacobs also uses characters to introduce more supernatural feeling into the story.
“At the third glass his eyes got brighter, and he began to talk…and spoke of wild scenes and doughty deeds…”
The man who entered the house is bringing supernatural feeling into the story by telling the family about the extraordinary powers that the Monkey’s Paw contains. His eyes open wide as he talks about his horrific experiences and his voice quivers as he gives them a warning.
Both stories have supernatural devices, and they are very similar. The supernatural device can be referring to sound, touch, sight and many more.
