Compare The Pre-1914 Short Story ‘The Red Room’ With The Modern Short Story ‘Farthing House’

This line shows an example of the emotive language used to allow the reader to feel empathy with the narrator.

Finally, the word 'red' is mentioned several times, including the title, suggesting blood, death, and horror,

'The sombre reds and blacks of the room troubled me.'

'Farthing House' contrasts with 'The Red Room' in many ways; it is mostly set outside, and includes many everyday occurrences, such as,

'I was burning the last of the leaves. It was a most beautiful day, clear and cold and blue.' and,

'It had been a beautiful day for the drive too, I had stopped twice, once in a village, once in a small market town, and explored churches and little shops, and eaten lunch and had a pot of tea,' and later,

'... there were framed photographs on a sideboard, flowers in jugs and bowls, there was an old fraying, tapestry-covered armchair on which a fat cat slept beside a fire.'

These vivid descriptions are almost reassuringly commonplace; they are pleasant, with no hint of anything ghostly or untoward. And even when there is a suggestion of death, it is still not apparent as a ghost story,

'The church was just ahead, the car lights swept along a yew hedge, a lynch gate, caught the shoulder of a gravestone.'

Both of these short stories are written in the first person narrative, which reveals the gradual change in mood, and also makes the story more personal to the reader.

In 'The Red Room', the narrator starts off supremely confident, unafraid, and highly sceptical. This is shown even in the first line of the story,

'"I can assure you," said I, "that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me."'

And later,

'"Eight and twenty years," said I, "I have lived, and never a ghost have I seen as yet."'

As the story opens, the reader begins to share the thought processes of the narrator, living through the experiences with them,

'I half expected the old people were trying to enhance the spiritual terrors of their house by their droning insistence.'

The narrator is also used to build up the atmosphere through the use of his senses, for example,

'I heard the sound of a stick and a shambling step on the flags in the passage outside, and the door creaked on his hinges as a second old man entered.'

Again there is the use of onomatopoeia, appealing to the auditory sense and adding to the already gothic atmosphere.

The confidence of the narrator continues through the story, until the first indication of it being undermined,

'I must confess I had scarce expected these grotesque custodians... the three of them made me feel uncomfortable.'

And later, as his confidence is leaving him further behind, he has to make a conscientious effort to sustain it,

'I must confess that the oddness of these three old pensioners... affected me in spite of my efforts to keep myself at a matter of fact phase.' and,

'But with an effort I sent such thoughts to the right about.'

And as his fear and suspicion increases further, we find out that he has been preparing for danger,

'Then, with my hand in the pocket that held my revolver...'

Then, later, the narrator attempts to reassure himself by talking aloud to control his mounting panic,

'"By Jove!" said I aloud, "that draught's a strong one!"' and,

'"Steady on!" I said... speaking with half-hysterical facetiousness.'

Finally, the story ends when the narrator is taken over by complete panic,

'I was now almost frantic with the horror of the coming darkness, and my self-possession deserted me.'

'Farthing House' is also written in the first person narrative, but is in the form of a letter to the narrator's daughter, to be read 'at some future date'.

This story starts with a flashback, which stirs the deep hidden memory, which is the story itself,

'I was burning the last of the leaves... and as I caught the smell of it, that most poignant, melancholy, nostalgic of all smells, something that had been drifting on the edge of my conscience blurred... It was as if a door had been opened on to the past.'

Throughout the story, the character of the narrator is revealed to the reader through her statements,

'I always loved her, she was such fun. I wish you had known her.'

This statement shows the narrator to be a warm, and sensitive person, while this one reveals her guilt,

'And of course, I wish that one of us could have had her.'

The emotions in 'Farthing House' are much less intense, but much more complex. They don't increase to a climax like the fear in 'The Red Room', they simply come and go,

'I began to feel nervous, anxious.' then,

'I relaxed.'

The narrator is clear of mind, and concentrates on telling her story calmly and honestly, without any of the panic or clouded judgements found in 'The Red Room',

'I am being careful now, it would be too easy to claim that I had sensed something sinister, that I was shrouded at once in the atmosphere of a haunted house.'

There is no fear in this story, just brief, ephemeral unease,

'For an instant, that feeling of unease and melancholy passed over me like a shadow again.' and,

'And then that terrible melancholy came over me again, I felt inconsolably hopeless and sad.'

In 'Farthing House', as in 'The Red Room', the reader is able to share the thought processes of the narrator. Here it is in the form of questions,

'Did she relax just visibly, smile a little too eagerly, was there a touch of relief in her voice when she next spoke?'

However this is one of the few similarities between the two stories, for there are a greater number of contrasts. The narrator in 'The Red Room' was a total disbeliever, while the narrator in 'Farthing House' is an agnostic,

'I had never either believed or disbelieved in ghosts, scarcely ever thought about the subject at all. Now I knew that I had seen one.'

Also, the ghost of 'Farthing House' is identified as a character, but this is unheard of in 'The Red Room'.

The end result of this story is of quiet, but firm conviction,

'If the conversation touched upon the subject of ghosts I kept silent. I had seen one. I knew. That was all.'

Both of these ghost stories use language carefully to express the tone, emotions, and themes.

'The Red Room' has many examples of archaic language; this is because it was written pre-1914. It also helps to express the gothic feel of the story,

'"I can assure you," said I...' and,

'"Eight and twenty years," said I...' and later,

'"Here it was," thought I'

The vocabulary used, even from the first page of the story is polysyllabic, and not as accessible to the reader as in 'Farthing 'House',

'I half expected the old people were trying to enhance the spiritual terrors of their house...' and later,

'There is to my mind something inhuman in senility, something crouching and atavistic.'

Also on that first page, there is an example of how the rhythm of the language is used to suggest the meaning,

'She swayed her head slowly from side to side. A many thing to see and sorrow for.'

This suggests the story to be a piece of carefully crafted prose, as does this alliteration,

'His lower lip hung pale and pink...'

There is a lot of onomatopoeia in 'The Red Room', because this appeals to the auditory sense and creates atmosphere, as does the use of adjectives,

'I shut them in and walked down the chilly, echoing passage...'

Towards the end of the story, the author uses more similes and figurative language, such as,

'Darkness closed upon me like the shutting of an eye, wrapped about me in a stifling embrace.'

And at the climax, he uses a cluster of vigorous verbs to suggest panic,

'I leapt panting and dishevelled from candle to candle... I bruised myself... I sent a chair headlong, I stumbled and fell... I snatched another... I staggered back.'

'Farthing House' begins with familiar vocabulary and uncomplicated syntax that lacks subordinate clauses. Many sentences start with 'I', 'It', 'And', or 'But',

'I never told you...'

'It is true...'

'But I shall feel better for it...'

This use of language is appropriately informal for a letter from a mother to her daughter, containing mostly monosyllabic or disyllabic words, and most of the rest of this story is written in a conversational, or colloquial style,

'It was just such a terrible year, what with one thing and another.'

This story has a lot of precise description, and as a contrast to 'The Red Room'; it is pleasant and mostly outdoor,

'...a kingfisher flashing blue as blue across a hump backed bridge.' and,

'...the sun... a great red, frost-rimed ball.' and later,

'There was a clear, star-pricked sky.'

Near the beginning of the story there is also a one-line paragraph, 'Little Dornford' which suggests a sleepy little village, but with no suggestion of anything ghostly.

There are a number of language tools used in both of these stories, such as similes, metaphors, and alliteration,

'...a sense of loss, a melancholy. It descended on me like a damp veil about my head and shoulders.' (Simile)

'...but I was on edge, and still enveloped in sadness and foreboding.' (Metaphor)

'Poor, pale and distraught young thing.' (Alliteration)

After having read both 'The Red Room' and 'Farthing House' and compared them, I can say that I preferred 'Farthing House'. This is because I found it easier to read, as the language is more accessible. I also found the storyline more interesting; I felt it had more depth than that of 'The Red Room', as did the characters. Gothic horror, such as the sort in 'The Red Room' does not appeal to me, because I find it is too predictable. Whereas the modern ghost story 'Farthing House' had an interesting twist at the end, similar to 'Hannibal' by 'Thomas Harris', which I recently read, and which ends in an unusual and unpredictable twist.