HG Wells Sustaining Tension Essay Research Paper

HG Wells Sustaining Tension Essay, Research Paper

How H. G. Wells,

Builds and sustains tension In "The Red

Room". ........... The title "The Red Room"

immediately attracts the reader’s attention; it is symbolic but leaves

unanswered questions.. "What is the

red room.". "Why is it

red.". We associate red with fear

and danger.. Is this room

dangerous.. Overall, the title raises so

much curiosity that it has an overwhelming effect, wanting us to read on and

find answers to our questions............ The short story writer has to

attract the reader and keep their attention throughout.. In order for any story to work, tension has

to be built in the text, to keep it interesting.. In a novel, the writer has to structure and create tension

building it up and letting it drop and picking it up again.. Too much fast-paced action in a film kills

the essence of it and for the viewer, it can become almost funny to watch.. For a short story, however, it is able to

build tension and sustain it without completely dropping down to the original

level.. The best way of building tension

is to increase the tension then drop down slightly but not as low as at the

outset.. In adding more drama, little by

little, the story gains tension but the reader is also reminded of the

excitement as he is released from the drama from time to time............ In a short story, the reader will be

able to have a strong influence from the writer’s first and last lines.. This makes them very important and are well

thought out.. This is the first line:"’I can assure

you,’ said I, ‘that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.’"From this first line, the reader can assume two pieces of

information.. Firstly that this story

involves a ghost, and secondly that the character is an educated and well-read

man. This peak of

interest increases the tension and stops the reader from putting the book

down.. Also, as it is a short story it

gets straight to the point............ The story in the first page

introduces four characters.. A young

man, an old man and his wife, and another old man.. We never know their names..

The young man is skeptical about the red room being haunted.. The three elder people believe that it is

haunted and dare not even go there..

Opposites build drama and drama builds tension.. This is the perfect example of how opposites

build tension.. Firstly, we have the young

against the old, which also symbolizes the inexperienced against the wise.. There is also the conflict between

’skeptics’ and the ‘wise’.. Although

they may be wise, the older people have not ever dared to go to the red

room.. They have become wise as they

have heard the stories about the room but none of them has ever had first hand

experience of the room............ Repetition is also a device used by

writers to build tension.. One of the

most obvious examples is on the first page."It’s your own choosing."The old man is

trying to warn the young man but at the same time he is leaving the ‘decision’

to him.. It is as if the three old

people are ridding themselves of their responsibility of the young man.. It is their duty, like guardians, to warn

the man of what they believe is to be his death. Another use of

repetition is on page two where the old woman keeps on repeating, "this

night of all nights.". We never

find out why that night is important but it gives the reader a ‘red herring’

question.. Although we are going to find

out when we read on; we want to have answers and this continues our interest

into – "why was that night important."........... The location is critical to the

short story.. The writer needs to give

his story a carefully considered and appropriate backdrop.. A short story works through its location,

characters, and setting in time and language..

These are the ingredients that tie it together and make the mixture

complete.. In this story, the location

is very important.. The story is set in

a castle.. A ghost story in a castle is

not a new idea and although it is a rather unoriginal location, it is very

appropriate.. The old people who inhabit

the place cannot use most of it to live in because they are afraid of the ‘red

room’.. This keeps them well away from

that section of the castle.. A castle is

such an appropriate location and here what we do not know is far more

frightening than what we do know.. A

castle is a perfect example of what we do not know!. It is full of rooms, corridors and stairs.. As the story continues, the young man

explores the castle on his journey to the red room.. On route to the red room, he comes across what looks like a

figure in front of him only to find it was an ornament of a Chinaman on a buhl

table.. Then as he ap

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