Before Mr Kipps goes back inside Susan Hill writes about how today the air reminds him of the past. “There was something in the air that night, something, I suppose, remembered from my own childhood.” This gives another clue to the reader on what might happen later on in the novel. The clues that we have been given up to now, are all things that have happened in the past and the reader feels as if the experiences that Mr Kipps had in the past were not that good. The reader knows this is true because Susan Hill writes “That my peace of mind was about to be disturbed, and memories awakened that I thought forever dead.” This gives the reader the feeling that Mr Kipps has for a long time not remembered his past and has never intended to. The only reason why he has remembered his past is because of the weather.
Tension levels start to rise when Mr Kipps goes back inside the house. There he sits with his stepchildren listening to “the horridest, most spine- chilling tales.” At first Mr Kipps thinks the tales are amusing but then he says “as I sat on, listening, in the firelight, I began to feel set apart from them all, an outsider to their circle.” This shows that in the past he must have experienced events that had something to do with ghost stories or scary stories. To back this up he then say’s “I was trying to suppress my mounting unease, to hold back the rising flood of memory.” Here Susan Hill writes about how awkward he is feeling and how hard he is trying to control himself. Also this shows that from the outside he is looking calm but from the inside he is feeling scared. He is feeling like this because he doesn’t want to remind himself on what happened in the past.
Tension levels rise at their most when one of his stepchildren say’s “Now come, stepfather, your turn.” Meaning they want to hear a ghost story from their stepfather. But Mr Kipps just says “Nothing from me.” This leaves the reader thinking that he either doesn’t want to tell a ghost story or maybe his only ghost story he knew of was his experiences that had happened to him in the past.
Finally when Mr Kipps has had enough he stands up and says “I am sorry to disappoint you, but I have no story to tell!” When he has said this he walks quickly out of the room and goes outside again. Instead of going somewhere else in the house he goes back outside. This is because there is a lot of tension at this point so if he stayed in the house he wouldn’t be able to control the memory that was coming back to him. Mainly because it would be hot, this would prevent more anger and tension. There wouldn’t be any fresh air around him and therefore he wouldn’t be able to calm down. Whereas if he was outside he would be able to calm down quicker and also the tension levels would go down. Susan Hill uses this to help sustain the tension even though there is still tension inside the house where the stepchildren and his wife have been left to think about how weird Mr Kipps reaction was on when asking him on telling a ghost story.
When he’s outside he’s trying to think of a way he can forget his old memories. Finally he decides to “set it down on paper, with every care and every detail.” Meaning he was going to write down what had happened in the past to him. So he can be free of his old memories.
In this episode Susan Hill gives us clues on what the novel might be about. Susan Hill mentions things about Mr Kipps’ past which gives the reader the feeling that something must have happened in the past. When tension is taken place then sentences tend to get shorter and the pace faster. When there is no tension then the sentences are longer and slower which gives a feeling that everything feels as if it is being rushed.
Another episode in this novel is “The Sound of a Pony and Trap.” At the beginning Susan Hill focuses our attention on Mr Kipps. The tension level feels as if they are rising because Susan Hill writes about how quiet it is. “Outside, all was quiet, so that all I heard was the sound of my footsteps.” So this means that it was so quiet that all he could hear was his own footsteps as he walked on the gravel.
Susan Hill also writes about the women in black. In this case it seems that Mr Kipps has seen this woman in black before and has been quite afraid of her. “I glanced over my shoulder, half expecting to catch sight of the black figure of the woman following me.” This gives the reader the feeling that because he is so alone, he keeps glancing back. This is because he might be afraid he might see the woman in black again. This again is a sign that tension levels are rising.
In this episode Susan Hill mentions the weather again jut like she did in the episode “Christmas Eve.” Susan Hill writes about the fog. This fits on with the events that are happening around Mr Kipps. So when Mr Kipps is on the marshes Susan Hill writes “a thick, damp sea-mist that had come rolling over the marshes and enveloped everything, myself, the house behind me, the end of the causeway path and the countryside ahead.” This means that when the fog started to get thicker, it started to take away everything. Meaning everything belonged to the fog now. The house, the marshes and the countryside. The fog gives a feeling that things are hidden and missing.
Tension levels are at their most when Mr Kipps is walking back to Eel Marsh House. He has decided to go back because there is no sign of Keckwick (the person who is supposed to be coming to take him back). He then hears the sound of a pony and trap. “Then, somewhere away in the swirling mist and dark, I heard the sound that lifted my heart.” Meaning he is thinking that Keckwick has come back to get him. Susan Hill has so far been building tension but now she has sustained it by writing about the sound of a pony and trap. But then Mr Kipps say’s “I realized that the mist played tricks with sound as well as sight.” So this shows the reader that Susan Hill has started to build the tension again. The reader thinks that something is defiantly going to go wrong after having read this.
Susan Hill then starts to build the tension again. She writes about when Mr Kipps “tried to work out the direction of the wind but there was none.” Meaning because the tension is rising there is no wind. It has stopped. Susan Hill also writes about how the “noise of the trap stayed further away from me.” It stayed away from Mr Kipps because something is going to happen.
He then hears something that chilled and horrified him. The noise of the pony and trap grew fainter and then stopped abruptly. He heard “a curious draining, sucking, churning sound.” This tells the reader that the pony and trap are being sucked into the ground or something. Susan Hill uses descriptive words to help the reader hear what Mr Kipps is hearing. He then hears a sound of a young child screaming. At this point he is so scared he goes back to Eel Marsh House.
Tension levels start to decrease when finally Keckwick comes to take Mr Kipps back home. When he is outside he feels relaxed and calm. “Sometimes I glanced up into the great bowl of the night sky and at the constellations scattered there and the sight was comforting and calming to me.” Also this makes him think about the women in black with the wasted face and the sound that he had heard. He thinks that they were ghosts. The reader can tell this after reading the last paragraph on page 81.
Tension levels start to increase again when Mr Kipps is back at the Gifford Arms. When he is getting ready for bed, he thinks why Keckwick came back to get him. When also he might know the events that have taken place for the past years. This makes the reader think that Keckwick was worried about Mr Kipps staying the night at Eel Marsh House. Something might happen overnight or maybe it is not safe enough. “He must have waited up, in his concern that I should not have to spend a night alone in the house.”
Tension levels have risen a lot when he starts to get nightmares about the events that happened during his time at Eel Marsh House. “The terrified, whinnying of the pony and the crying and calling of the child, over and over.” This makes the reader think that Susan Hill might have written this because he won’t be free of it. This event might happen again. Then at the end he sees the women. “Behind me, though I could not see, only sense her dark presence, hovered the women.” This is the last sentence that Susan Hill uses to end the episode. She might have wanted to use this because, so far the women has been thought to be ghostly. Susan Hill uses this to end the episode and Mr Kipps dream because when the reader reads about her, she reminds the reader that she is not a good character.
Another episode in this novel is “Spider.” In the first paragraph Susan Hill writes about Mr Kipps cycling back to Crythin Gifford. Susan Hill uses long sentences which gives the reader the feeling that Mr Kipps is exhausted and tired from riding the bicycle. “I returned some four hours and thirty-odd miles later in a positive glow of well being.”
Susan Hill writes about this particular thing at the beginning because tension levels seem to be low at the moment Also the weather seems to be nice which tells the reader that if the weather has changed then the moods also must have changed according to the events that are taking place. Mr Kipps must be feeling very calm although clearly he is trying to be relaxed when in reality he isn’t.
In this episode Susan Hill uses long sentences in the first paragraph. This gives the reader the feeling that Mr Kipps is exhausted and tired. He is exhausted and tired from riding the bicycle.
Tension levels start to rise when Mr Kipps goes over to Mr Daily’s house for dinner. After dinner they start to have a conversation. Mr Daily tells Mr Kipps “you’re a fool if you go on with it,” meaning he doesn’t want Mr Kipps to go back to Eel Marsh House. This makes the reader think why Mr Daily doesn’t want Mr Kipps to go back to Eel Marsh House. This might be because there are other things that Mr Kipps doesn’t know about the place. These things might cause tension to take place. In return Mr Kipps says “if you mean you think I should leave the job I’ve been sent here to do and turn tail and run,” meaning Mr Kipps still wants to go back even from the experiences he has had. Mr Daily isn’t telling himself what’s wrong with the place which makes the reader think that he might want Mr Kipps to go back or he might have had experiences which he doesn’t want to mention. “I’m not going to fill you up with a lot of women’s tales.” Whenever Mr Kipps tries to find out more about the house and the women he only gets “hints.” When Mr Daily says, “You shouldn’t go there alone,” this makes the reader and Mr Kipps think why he shouldn’t go on his own. Maybe, because bad things might happen. If there are two or more people then they wouldn’t be afraid as much as if they were alone.
Susan Hill uses Mr Kipps thoughts to break up tension so that the reader wonders what’s going to happen next. This also makes the reader read on. Susan Hill uses the weather to symbolize the moods. Meaning when the weather starts to change, the moods of the character also start to change.
