1. How Old Is the Narrator? Full Marks for His Age

Reading Quiz

1. How old is the narrator? Full marks for his age.

2. How many old people are sitting around the fire when the narrator goes to the red room?

3. In what type of building is the red room located?

4. What does the narrator, leaving the door to the red room open, retrieve from the passageway?

5. What, according to the narrator, is "the worst of all things to haunt poor mortal man?"

Vocabulary

tangible (adjective) : something you can touch; something

real to your senses; not an idea, but a

real thing.

atavistic (adjective) : belonging to an earlier time than your

parents' time. e.g. It is atavistic to

believe that the earth is flat.

baize (noun) : a thick cloth usually used to cover

tables. Baize is usually green-coloured

penumbra (noun) : a partial shadow outside complete

darkness (e.g. during a solar or lunar

eclipse)

alcove (noun) : part of a room off of the main section; a nook; a hollow space in a room not

usually separated by a door.

Discussion of the Story

1. Who is the narrator?

· 28 years old, he appears to be an adventurer who heard about "the red room" and its secrets.

· probably upper class, judging by his vocabulary (e.g. "It will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me") and the fact that he has the time and money to go on adventures like this.

· We get the sense that his fearlessness may be overinflated and distorted (the mirror which symbolizes his distorted view of himself, and the presence of his gun).

2. How does the narrator change as the story progresses?

· His story reveals him to be quite rational at the beginning. (e.g. he repeats the old man's instructions on how to get to the room, and "is corrected on one particular.")

· Yet he begins to become unhinged quite early (e.g. his fixation on the oddness of the three old people, his observation of the "queer old mirror," fingering his revolver, and his observation of the shadow in the alcove)

· As each candle goes out, he becomes more and more unhinged. On page 610, H.G. Wells shows this with each exclamation the narrator makes ("Odd!" "This won't do!" "What's up?" "Steady on! These candles are wanted!")

· In the end, it is not a "tangible" ghost, but his sense of fear itself that unhinges him.

3. Is there a ghost in the room?

The question of whether a narrator encounters a supernatural entity or is simply hallucinating is the central theme of "literature of the fantastic".

For example: The Others (movie), The Ghost Whisperer (television), The Exorcist (movie), The Omen (movie), The Forgotten (movie)

4. What are the major motifs (images that repeat themselves) in this story?

· light: the fire downstairs and in the red room, the candles, daylight

after the narrator is discovered. Does light represent reason?

· shadow: the shadow behind the old man whose eyes were shaded,

shadow in the alcove of the red room, which reached out

and swallowed the light. Does shadow represent fear?

· decay: the old man's withered arm, yellow teeth, and crutch. Does

decay suggest a curse, degeneration, something unholy?

Reading Response

Talking about the setting of a story, a Harvard Professor named Tom Bailey wrote that "what a character chooses to observe" in a setting tells the reader a lot about that character's frame of mind and motivations.

Write two or three paragraphs (about 2/3 of a page, single-spaced) where a character describes a setting around her or him. Do not directly say how the character feels. Do not directly describe the character. Visualize the setting, but before beginning, ask yourself:

· why your character is in the setting,

· your character's mood,

· why your character is describing the setting

Try your best to visualize the setting through your character's eyes.

Some situations:

· a soldier on a Pacific island describing his trench, dug-out behind a hill (perhaps the setting is described in a diary entry or a letter)

· a man, whose son has been killed in war, looking around his barn

· a camp counsellor in charge of grade fours on a stormy night near Algonquin Park

· waiting for a bus to the hospital to visit a sick relative or friend

· a restaurant after a successful musical, drama, or dance performance

· a sporting event attended with your favourite aunt, uncle, cousin, parent, or best friend. Describe the event and let the readers draw conclusions about your mood

… or choose your own setting!

6. Ho