Mr. Abney is the first main character we meet. The readers first impression of him is of an odd man. He asks questions of his cousin which are not very important “How old are you boy” in the first two minutes of the conversation. This is odd because he has asked these questions twice in the first two minutes and he told Stephen that “I need to write things in my diary” is strange way to make his small cousin welcome. He is not a family man and lives alone .A person who doesn’t like to go out, possibly having no friends is an odd guardian for an orphaned child.
Mrs. Brunch the secondary character, she is a housekeeper who was the most conformable and human person, she is very friendly, as she made the first quarter of an hour very relaxing for the new arrival. I think she is an important because she is the person who tells us much of the story about what has happened, before Stephen’s. The two figures are what makes a ghost story; they are terrifying as they are described. Theses figures are very eerie. It also raises the suspicions that Mrs Brunch could be a suspect because all of the information she gave him.
Mr Paker, the butler, heard strange noises in the wine cellar and he was sure it wasn’t rats, it was voices. He is the secondary character and he is not mentioned a lot in the story.
The use of descriptive language is very good in that it creates atmosphere and characters very detailed, which leaves images in the reader’s mind. For example the two figures described e.g. “raised his arms in the air with an appearance of menace and of unappeasable hunger and longing” this shows us a ghostly image which makes us worry more for Stephen.
The creation of suspense makes this an effective ghost story because the story keeps the audience in guessing anticipating the worst, it is all unknown until the end. Every time the reader gets closer a strange thing happens. What is good about this is, each paragraph, something happens.
The plot of a ghostly story, leaves the reader wondering what will happen next. Even though Lost Hearts is a very short story, easy to read and understand. It builds up as you read on and the reader begins to find the hidden truth. In my opinion the characters in the house all seem to be the suspect.
I think the ending is what we expect of a typical ghost story. Mr. Abney’s death was a revenge attack by the girl and the boy who he killed years ago. The story mentions there is no blood on his hand but that he had a frightful expression on his face. This might show that the two ghosts came from the windows to frightened him. As he is an old man, he had a shock which might have given him a heart attack. The two ghosts saved Stephen’s life. Is a mystery and the shocking hidden truth is found at the end about what Mr. Abney was trying to do. The reader was sure M.R. Abeny was a suspect because he is a very odd old man, at the start of this story. M.R. James is a careful not to tell us what happen to Mr. Abney it leaves us guessing and that is what makes it an effective.
