The Red Room By H.G. Wells (1896)

The Narrator Old Woman 28 years old Male Never seen a ghost Arrogant Boastful Open minded Suspects the old people of making more of the ghosts. Pale Eyes Wise Lives in the house Old woman stares into the fire Thinks the young man has a lot to learn Ignores the old man with the shade.

The Old Men Old man with a withered arm Wrinkled Positively dislikes the other old man Old man walks with a crutch Very wrinkled and old His eyes are covered by a shade His lower lip hangs down His teeth are yellow and decaying He has a nasty cough

The narrator’s attitude towards the old people Look at pages 3-6 Use the resource sheet to list the physical description of these old people Write a paragraph on their behaviour towards each other Write a paragraph on their behaviour towards the young man

Vocabulary Choices Read the first four pages again In pairs list all the words which add to the spooky atmosphere Try to list these according to the word type: Nouns (the names of things) Adjectives (describing words) Verbs (doing or being words)

The Narrator’s attitude On page 3, he starts very confidently - “it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me” By page 6 he is showing that he is becoming afraid – “I left the door wide open until the candle was well alight” Trace the narrator’s increasing stress levels – use quotations to support your opinions.

Read the story as far as page 10. Make a list in pairs showing at least seven ways in which the young man seems confident and at least seven ways in which he seems afraid.

How effective is ‘The Red Room’ by H.G. Wells as a ghost story?

Introduction Briefly introduce, mentioning the following: Title Author When it was written First person narrative Who the narrator is

Write a brief summary of the story: Who is telling the story Where he is – Lorraine Castle What he is there for – and what he’s told What happens to him What he concludes following his experience

Analyse the successful ghost story elements (using quotations from the text to support your points) The old people – describe who they are what they look like How they speak How they make the young man feel

The Castle Looking at descriptions of: the rooms the corridor mirrors lighting – fire/candles the colours in the Red Room any other relevant description

The ‘scary’ details Tonight of all nights What happened to the young Duke The character of the old Duke and his Wife Vocabulary choices – ‘scary’ nouns, verbs, adjectives

The way the young man changed From confident – not believing in ghosts To terrified Again, use quotation to support your points

Conclusion Your own opinion on the effectiveness of the text as a ghost story