The Red Room by HG Wells, The Black Cottage By Wilkie Collins, and Sikes and Nancy By Charles Dickens
The story of ‘The Red Room’ by H.G. Wells is told to us in first person. Suspense is created because of the story being in the first person because the audience doesn't know any more information than the narrator who is visiting the red room. The audience would have no idea of what should happen next so they are not expecting the shocks of surprises. This is also quite effective to us as it is told directly to the reader. The opening sentence says ‘I can assure you’ said I,
‘that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.’ And I stood up before the fire with my glass in my hand. This suggests that the main character is pretending that he does not believe in ghosts as he said that it will take a real, concrete ghost to frighten him. It is like he is trying to be witty about ghosts, in making out that he does not believe in them. It mentioned that he was stood in front of the fire which is beginning to set the scene to us. This is effective to us as a fire is gloomy.
We are then introduced to the second person. The author wrote ‘It is your own choosing’ said the man with the withered arm, and glanced at me askance. The character is described as having a withered arm which is grotesque. The man looked at the main character as if to ask him a question so he replied ‘Eight and twenty years’ said I, ‘I have lived, and never a ghost have I seen’ This is an indication of old language as the structure of the sentence is very pre 20th century.
Now we are introduced to another character, an old woman. She is described to us to be quite an odd person; it says ‘The old woman sat staring hard into the fire, her pale eyes wide open.’ It is a strange thing to do to be sat staring and we can already picture her pale eyes. It continues to say ‘Ah’, she broke in: ‘and eight and twenty you have lived and never seen the likes of this house, I reckon.
There’s a many things to see when ones still but eight and twenty. She swayed her head slowly from side to side. ‘A many things to see and sorrow for.’ This raises suspicion to us as it is like she knows something but is not letting on to us what it is.
Chester Himes’ If He Hollers Let Him Go and God’s Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell
As women, there has always been an issue with equality between themselves and men. Even though there has been a significant amount of progress in the United States throughout the years, there are women that still suffer with equal rights around the world. In A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, and “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway, there are many aspects throughout them that relate to each other in numerous ways. The main theme between them is the way woman are treated and how they appear to be less equal of the men in their lives. Even though men are presumed to be the more dominate gender, women should be just as equal socially, financially, and academically, and not feel pressured by men. For the women and girl in A Doll’s House, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”, and “Hills Like White Elephants”, they suffer with the idea of feeling compelled to do what the men say and follow his direction of how their life should be.
They live in the castle to keep it safe. The narrator is in the castle
The book that I have read that has really stayed with me is Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
Outsiders?, and ?That Was Then, This Is Now? by S.E Hinton, and ?Lord of the
Christopher from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon and Holden from J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2004. Print.
The Assault by Harry Mulisch, The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro and 1984 by George Orwell
The Adventures of Huck Finn by Mark Twain and The Catcher In The Rye by
Shirley Jackson, The Veldt by Ray Bradbury, and The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe,
Society as a gilded cage refers to people living a life with boundaries. The people living this type of life don’t live life to its full potential because they feel as though there are limits to what they can do. Two examples of individuals living this type of life would be Tom from a “Glass Menagerie” and Nora from “Doll House”. Both these individuals had the opportunity to live a free life but felt as though they had limits causing them to live a restrained life. Although both individuals seemed to be complete opposites they shared similar characteristics.
a dull grey colour as if it had lost the will to live and stopped
life and death. However the emphasis is not so much on the plot but on
Ballaster, Ros. "Introduction to Sense and Sensibility". Sense and Sensibility. Jane Austen. New York: Penguin Books, 1995.
Hobsbaum, Philip. A Reader’s Guide to Charles Dickens. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1972.