What are the effects created by H.G.Wells in 'The Red Room' ? What techniques are used ?

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                What are the effects created by H.G.Wells in 'The Red Room' ?

What techniques are used ?

'The Red Room' is a short story of gothic genre written by H.G.Wells. The story is about a twenty eight year old man who wants to have the experience of witnessing a ghost and prove, to himself, that he will not be frightened by spending a night in the 'red room' which, apparently, contains a ghost. The atmosphere of the night that he spends in the 'red room'  is one of mystery and fear.

At the beginning of the story the man is engaging conversation with three people. The characters remain anonymous and are referred to as 'the man with the withered arm', 'the man with the shade' and 'the old woman'. Their so-called 'deformities' makes the reader realise that the man is alone with these strange, old  people, and adds a certain eeriness to story.

All the characters act oddly one way or another. The old woman sits 'staring hard into the fire, her pale eyes wide open.' This line is base on her eyes, the author describes them as 'wide open', which gives the illusion of a mad woman, possibly the fact that she always stares into the fire, also gives the illusion of being quite obsessed and mad.

The man with the 'withered arm' can be imagined to be insane as he constantly repeats 'it's your own choosing,'  to the young man.

The characters do not engage in proper conversation with the young man about himself. 'It's your own choosing', 'this night of all nights' are repeated three to four times during the period in which the young man spends with these characters. They are repeated to show the characters as crazy and to add emphasis (along with 'you go alone') on the fact that what the protagonist is about to live willingly, they think, is foolish and insensible, and to scare the reader by making him believe that something bad is going to happen. Each character has a certain aspect in their body language that the young man comments on. The old woman 'swayed her head slowly', as if she was lost in her thoughts, distraught. The man with the shade 'jerked' and 'threw his head back', both verbs give the illusion of sudden and unexpected movements, which gives the reader a sense of being frightened, not knowing what could happen next, like something could leap or jump out at any given moment.

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Than man with the shade is also described by his eyes : 'small and bright and inflamed,' which, like the older woman, makes the reader see him as deranged and evil when they're described as 'red'.

The man with the withered arm gives the man with the shade a 'short glance of positive dislike' which makes the reader sense the lack of hospitality and how unpleasant the atmosphere in the room is. This is also achieved by the author writing, in relation to the man with the shade, how his body and movements are bizarrely reflected with the lighting, 'a ...

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