The Red Room has a slow beginning, which helps to create a lot of tension in the start. This is good for the Red Room because it makes the reader want to find out what happens next, whether he goes into the Red Room or not. While the old people are trying to change the narrators mind, all he keeps thinking is that he is going to go into the Red Room whether they like it or not.
In the opening of The Landlady it starts off by Roald Dahl describing the weather and begins to set the scene. It also tells you about Billy, where he’s from, he’s young and that he’s alone in Bath.
The weather in the beginning of the Landlady is “…deadly cold and the wind was like a flat bade of ice on his cheeks.” This suggests that it is a cold and dark winter night. It also makes you think that what’s going to happen to Billy whether he will find a place to stay or will he stay outside in the cold dark winter night, and makes you feel sorry for him.
In the beginning of the Landlady you find out that it is a deserted town, this gives the effect of Billy being lonely and that anything could happen to him. This also creates a lot of tension for Billy because he’s alone and doesn’t have any one to talk to. The opening of the Landlady is less confusing than the opening of the Red Room, which makes it understand and read.
I think that the Red Room has a better opening compared to the Landlady because there is a great deal of tension in the beginning, whereas compared to the Landlady there is hardly any tension at all. This is because in the Red Room the old people are trying to change the narrators mind about going into the Red Room, which makes the reader think about the room and whether it is really haunted with ghosts or not. On the other hand the beginning of the Landlady is about Billy trying to find a place to stay, which doesn’t give the effect of it being a horror story.
In the Red Room there are no names for the characters, which creates plenty of suspense in the story. This is because when someone has finished speaking the writer H.G.Wells tells you who’s speaking by giving you a description of them. For example “it’s your own choosing,” said the man with the withered arm once more.
When the old people in the Red Room keep repeating the phrases such as “it’s your own choosing” and “this night of all nights,” it gives the effect of a lot of tensions between the characters. This is because when the old people say, “it’s your own choosing” to the narrator, it gives the effect that the old people are trying desperately hard to change the narrators mind about going into the Red Room because it is full of ghosts. Another quote that creates loads of suspension is “this nights of all nights” because it gives the effect of this night being the worst night to go into the Red Room because it is full of ghosts. Both of these quotes are there to either scare or change the narrators mind about entering the Red Room.
While the narrator was talking to the old people he heard “the sounds of a stick and shambling outside.” This quote gives the effect of there being ghosts outside of the room that their in. also while the narrator is going towards to the Red Room he goes past objects in the dark, which is scary for him. This is because he is not sure about what he’s passing as he is going towards the room, whether it’s a ghost or not. As the narrator carries on walking towards the Red Room his candle goes out, which makes shadows wherever he looks. The narrator seeing shadows everywhere causes the suspense in the story. This is because they give the effect of large frightening images, which scare the narrator.
When the narrator is in the Red Room he lights up seventeen candles and puts them around the room. But after a little while two of the candles had been put out. “Did I do that myself in a flash of absent mindedness?” This quote suggests that the narrator is saying that he puts out the candles and doesn’t want to think that may be a ghost put the candles out, because he doesn’t believe in them.
In the Red Room there isn’t really a ghost, but the narrator is still scared. The reason for the narrator being scared in the Red Room is because of the fear he has for going into the room. In the Red Room the narrator is afraid of something that doesn’t exist, which is why he is found unconscious the next day by the old people. The reason for the narrator being unconscious was because he was so afraid of seeing a ghost that he knocked himself out. But when he does wake up, he says, “I seem to remember you and yet I can’t remember who you are.” This is because he lost his memory as he fell down stairs.
In the Landlady when Billy decides to go to the bed and breakfast and knocks on the door, the Landlady opens it straight away. The Landlady then says “it’s all ready for you, my dear.” This quote gives the effect of suspense in the story because it makes the reader think that the Landlady is quite weird and has been waiting a very long time for someone to come and stay in her bed and breakfast.
In this story the Landlady doesn’t have a name, which creates a little suspense in the story because you don’t really know and it also makes you feel that she is a secretive woman.
When Billy first arrived at the bed and breakfast he saw a parrot through the window, which created an effect of the Landlady living in the house by herself with a parrot and a dog. But then when Billy goes into the bed and breakfast and looks around he discovers that the parrot isn’t alive but is actually stuffed. A quote that tells the reader this is when Billy says, “I could have sworn it was alive.”
In the Landlady there are four different characters we know about they are the Landlady, Billy Weaver, Mr. Mulholland, and Mr. Temple. In the Landlady we don’t really know much about Mr. Mulholland and Mr. Temple apart from that they live on the third floor of the bed and breakfast. A quote which tells you this is when the Landlady says, “they’re on the third floor, both of them together.” This quote also makes you think that if the guests are still living in the bed and breakfast, then how come Billy hasn’t seen or heard of them yet. In the bed and breakfast there hasn’t been any other guests apart from Billy “in the last three years.” This quote gives the effect of the bed and breakfast being in a deserted area, with not a lot of people coming and going there.
When the Landlady asks Billy how old he is, he replies by saying seventeen years old. “Oh, it’s the perfect age! Mr. Mulholland was also seventeen.” Said the Landlady. This quote gives the effect of suspense in the story because the reader starts to think why is it a perfect age.
The Landlady is not described a great deal, which creates more suspense in this story for the readers. This is because she is made to feel distant from the readers.
In the story the Red Room there are four different characters the narrator, an old woman, and two old men. The narrator in this story is young and arrogant; this is because in Victorian times the men were taught to be confident and brave. The narrator was brave which meant that he didn’t believe in ghosts and wasn’t even afraid of them. The quote, which tells you this about the narrator, is “that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.”
The three old people in this story are scary and mysterious and are described as “pale,” confusing “old, wrinkly faces.” Both of these quotes give the effect of the people being very old and have been there for a very long time. When the second man comes into the room he is “more aged even than the first.” This quote makes you think that the first man was old but this one must be really old like in his 100’s. Towards to the end of the story the old people start to change how they act towards the narrator. This is because in the beginning of the story the old people act like they don’t care about the narrator and about what happens to him, but towards the end of the story the old woman is trying to make the narrator feel better by getting him medicines.
In the story the Red Room I think that fear is a character in this story. This is because the whole story revolves around fear and people being afraid of it. You know this because when the narrator enters the red room he is waiting for a ghost to come, but there isn’t a ghost he’s just afraid of fear, which is why I think that fear is a character in this story.
In the Landlady there are two characters we know about, they are the Landlady and Billy Weaver. The other two characters in this story are Mr. Mulholland and Mr. Temple, but we don’t know who they are. Billy Weaver is a young and curious boy, but he is also a little naïve. Billy was sent to Bath from London by his boss. I think that Billy was set up by his boss, to come to Bath and stay in the bed and breakfast so that the Landlady could poison him.
The Landlady in this story starts off by being a kind, sweet lady and is the same all the way through the story.
The ending of the Red Room throws you a little, this is because when you’re reading the story you’re expecting a ghost to turn up and scare the narrator, but he ends up being scared of fear. By the end of the story I think that the narrator has learnt a valuable lesson because he has learnt that he might not be afraid of ghosts but is afraid of fear itself. I also think that the narrator gets exactly what he deserves because he acts like he’s so brave and that nothing could scare him, but he isn’t.
After the story I think that the narrator will go back to where he came from and brag to the people who live there about him seeing a ghost. This will then lead the legend to go on and on forever.
At the end of the Landlady, the landlady gives Billy a cup of tea that smells of “bitter almonds.” The reason for the tea smelling like bitter almonds is because she has put poison in it to poison Billy.
The last line of this story is “no, my dear, only you,” which is a cliffhanger ending. This quote means that reader will still carry on thinking about the story in their mind as to what happens next.
The reason for the landlady doing what she does is because she is a lonely old woman who needs someone to stay with her until she dies.
I think the better story out of the two is The Landlady because The Red Room has less suspense. This is because the pace of the Red Room is very slow whereas in the Landlady it gets straight to the point and the reader discovers new things about the characters. Another reason for the Landlady being a better story is because the characters are more interesting with unravelling secrets. An example of this is when you first told about the Landlady you assume she’s a nice old lady. A quote that suggests this is “she looked exactly like the mother of one’s best school-friend welcoming one into the house to stay for the Christmas holidays.” However as the reader continues to read the story, the reader discovers that she’s either a little mad or she’s lonely. A quote which suggests this is “I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away.”
Also knowing the main characters name Billy Weaver makes the reader feel closer to him and feel for him.
The Landlady is a story that leaves the reader to fill the colour into the picture, i.e. continue the story in the mind.
By,
Jasneet Kaur
10x2
