The Ways In Which Fear And Tension Essay Example

arrogant and states that he needs to see a ghost to believe in the supernatural myths of the red room, "it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me". He shows his pretentiousness again by assuring the other characters that he has never seen a ghost before and he has been around 28 years. The narrator is firstly disturbed by the description of the 3 people looking after the house.

They are very stereotypical and have all of the bad features expected of old people.There is a man with a withered arm and an old woman with pale eyes. The third man which arrives is described as being "more bent, more wrinkled, more aged that the first". They have difficulty standing, "he supported himself by a single crutch". They have decaying teeth.

Their movements are clumsy and shaky and they 'cough and splutter'. The writer describes them as 'grotesque custodians'. They are shown not to like each other very much which causes a bad atmosphere, "Unfriendly to me and to one another".The things they say are also strange.

There is a lot of repetition of certain phrases, "Its your own choosing", this is said 4 times as a warning that it is his own choice to go to the red room. The woman also says twice, "This night of all nights! ", leading the reader to believe that there was something special about that night. The style used in this sentence is very typical of a Gothic genre, as it has left mystery in the readers mind. 'Examination Day' is a good example of how modern stories differ from Victorian ones.In it, a boy

named Dickie reaches his twelfth birthday and is told that he has to take a government test. His parents have not mentioned this to him before and the household seems tense.

Dickie is sent to a strange futuristic building where he undergoes some tests which are performed in a different manner to which most are carried out. The characters described in 'Examination Day' are very different from those in 'The Red Room'. Dickie Jordan is a very curious and perceptive boy.We know this because he can sense the tension at the breakfast table, and he also notices 'the moisture in his mothers eyes, and 'the scowl on his fathers face'. The narrator also tells us that Dickie is a 'curious and alert eyed youngster'.

Dickie is shown to be a clever boy and he is very inquisitive which shows he is willing to learn. The parents show a lot of anxiety in the first half of this story. The story tells us that they had never spoken about the exam before. They reveal different types of behaviour with the fearful knowledge of what might happen to Dickie.Mr Jordan is nervous, but tries to hide this by distancing himself from the subject.

This is shown by the way he is said to answer sharply in a number of sentences. His father doesn't want to talk about it when Dickie asked if it's like a school test. His father answered briefly and walks away. ' He rattled the sheets in vexation', this shows that he wasn't prepared to talk about the subject. Mrs Jordan is shown to be more emotional.

She tells Dickie that 'its nothing to

worry about' and tries to act calmer, she also kisses him goodbye, where as he shakes his fathers hand.The settings of 'The Red Room' are very stereotypical, which is typical of Victorian literature of this kind because it contains many gothic elements. The setting itself is in an old deserted castle; there is a lot of description of big dark corners and shadowy alcoves, "large sombre room with its shadowy window bays, its recesses and alcoves". The man begins to tell the readers of his fear when he has left the 3 old people, "The oddness of these 3 old pensioners affected me, in spite of my efforts to keep myself a matter of fact phase".The people obviously have started to cause fear in the narrators mind because he then goes on to talk about being in different spiritual worlds, "They seemed to belong to a different age, when things spiritual were different to this".

The name of the room implies horror as red often means danger and sometimes blood and death, although it is not shown in the narration, this may have also helped to build fear. To get to the red room the young man has to walk down a long, draughty sub- terranean passage. He says that it is 'chilly and dusty' which implies that no one has been down it for a long time.The only means of light is to carry a candle, causing lots of shadows to be cast, "The echoes ran up and down the spiral staircase and the shadows came sweeping up after me". The furniture also scares him, when he sees a statue he immediately think that

there is someone there, "I stood rigid for half a minute".

When he gets to the room we are told that it is very big. We now know that there must be lots of recesses and alcoves for things to hide in. The narrator's thoughts are very clearly shown through out the story, as it is written in the first person so we know what he is thinking and how his fear is building.One of the first major signs of the man weakening is when he has to check the room out when he first gets there, "I began to walk about the room peering round each article of furniture, tucking up valances off the bed, and opening its curtains wide".

A sense of fear is built up in 'Examination Day', not by obvious, Gothic elements, but small details. Dickie's apartment is described as warm and cosy, ' something warm and sweet smelling in the automatic stove'. Lines 5 - 13 paint an image of a normal household with lots of presents for Dickie, "there were wrapped, beribboned packages waiting to be opened".Pathetic fallacy is used when Dickie looks out of the window. The atmosphere in the house is very sombre, we are also told that the weather is very dull and depressing too, "peered through the veil of mist that shrouded the glass". The story then continues to the tell the reader that it is raining as well.

Apart from the atmosphere, the family apartment is a big contrast to the dull, cold and very modern government building. The image of it being cold comes from the marble floor and the great pillars described

in the lobby. Dickie also talks about the room being cold, "as cold and officials as a courtroom".The description of a courtroom suggests that it was very formal and maybe scary for Dickie. A few sentences such as, 'entered an automatic elevator' and 'pointing towards the portal', begin to indicate that the story is futuristic. The government officials are very impersonal.

This image has been formed through their description and the way they all look very similar, "young man in an insignia-less tunic". The formality is also shown by the way that he is either called Richard, or by a classification number indicating that he is now not even known as a person just a number.They are also described as talking in a 'brisk, official voice'. In the last paragraph of the story where the official asks how the parents would like Dickie to be disposed of, there is no emotion shown and the voice 'droned on'.

The way that you are never sure what is going on through out the story makes it quite strange. The way the room and the officials in the building are very formal, there is a lie detector in the form of a drink, he has to sit in an armchair not at a desk and he has to be left alone in the room.The room inside was dim, he could barely make out the features'. The room is also shown to have a dull light inside, making it seem more mysterious.

In 'The Red Room' the narrator tries to explain that fear isn't an external, ghostly force, but it comes from within. He tells the 3 old people

that it is not a ghost that lies in the red room, but it is fear. Through out the story there has been no suspense or mystery, everything is explained as the story develops. The ending is very meaningful and it looks in depth at the fear we are already told about in the red room.The ending for 'Examination Day' is very different, as this is the point at which fear has its biggest impact in the whole story.

The reason for having the test and the ways the government officials go about the examination is all a mystery until the final paragraph. We are then told that Dickie was too clever and so he had to be killed. Even by the end of the story, the manner of Dickie's death is still left up to the reader's imagination. The contrast between the very formal and emotionless voice on the telephone and the cries from the mother and expression on the fathers face also add effect.The language techniques used in both stories add effect to the style of writing.

For example personification is used in 'The Red Room', when the narrator describes the way shadows cast by the candles seem to follow him up the stairs. A great deal of description is used to describe even minor details and repetition can also be seen in this story. 'Examination Day' contains much less description. Here there are more hints at the bad things that are going to happen.For example, tension is shown clearly in the description of the parents, and the poor weather described is used to reflect the mood of the family.

In spite of

their big differences, there are some similarities between the two stories. For example the way fear is built up through scary settings i. e. the government office and the passage to the red room. The way the characters are very informal.

We are not told the names of the three custodians, we are just given descriptions of them, in the same way as the government official wear insignia-less tunics and talk in an emotionless manner.I prefer 'Examination Day' because the fear was built up less obviously and the story line is more original than that of 'The Red Room'. 'Examination Day' uses various language techniques to build the story, with a big impact on the final paragraph, which makes you remember the story. 'The Red Room' frightens and builds suspense for the reader, in an obvious, dramatic way by using typical ghostly settings and strange characters, whilst 'Examination Day' is much more subtle and less obvious, with readers having to use their imaginations more to understand the plot of the story.