'Woman in Black'

The first 200 words of this essay...

'Woman in Black'

The story of Arthur's haunting by Jennet Humphrey is told with an effective narrative technique. The most obvious device employed, initially, by Susan Hill, is to tell the story in flashback. As soon as Arthur decides to commit his story to paper we leave the present narrative. In 'Christmas Eve', the opening chapter of the story starts full of 'Cheerfulness and bustle'. Susan Hill interests the reader when she sets up a happy atmosphere. The peaceful beginning contrasts well with the dramatic ending of violence, suddenness and 'cold fear', which seems to be dealt with briefly to prevent pain for Arthur.

At the beginning of the novel the writer drops seeds that point to the future and give hints of something dreadful to come, 'Long shadow of the past', 'woven into my fibres'. Hill is signalling that something awful has happened that will always be with Arthur. This leaves many unanswered questions for the reader to think about, 'what has happened in the past to make Arthur so unhappy?' Further on in the novel the reader is introduced to Stella, Arthur's fiancée. We are left to wonder what happened to her and how come