Light and Darkness, Reason and FearIt’s a Gothic standard to contrast "the light" and "the darkness" or "the shadow." The whole work is supposed to seem "dark," foreboding, threatening, and m...
The Haunted Red Room in Lorraine CastleThe story takes place at night in creepy Lorraine Castle, which has presumably been around for quite a while. These days it’s abandoned, and has been fo...
First PersonA nameless narrator tells us of his own experiences in the red room firsthand. The first person narrative is actually indispensable for the story, since Wells’s main interest is e...
Gothic/Horror, Psychological Thriller"The Red Room" has all the basics of a work of horror: a plot revolving around the supernatural, an atmosphere of looming threat, a terror-filled narrator (whos...
Precisely analytical and slightly disdainful, with a dose of foreboding and a pinch of hysteriaAs "The Red Room" is told in the first person, the tone reflects the attitude of the main character. T...
Structured, Ornate, Prone to Occasional Flights of FancyWells’s writing is certainly well ordered. His sentences and paragraphs are always neatly divided and structured in a point-by-point wa...
The title is pretty straightforward: the haunted locale around which the story revolves is "The Red Room." That title grabs you, doesn’t it? And not just because it’s short and allitera...
The ending of "The Red Room" is classic. What turns out to haunt the room? Drum roll…fear itself. And that killer last quote: "There is Fear in that room of hers – black Fear, and there...
Initial SituationHe’s sure going to show that ghost…The narrator begins the story by boldly announcing his disbelief in ghosts and his intention to stay in the haunted red room. His det...
Anticipation Stage and "Call"The narrator confidently announces he intends to stay in the red room to the old custodians; he is unfazed by their warnings.By the beginning of the story, the narrator...
Act IWe meet the narrator, who proclaims confidently that ghosts don’t scare him, because he doesn't believe in them. We meet the foreboding older custodians of the castle, who add to the gen...
H.G. Wells’s first published book was a biology textbook (in 1893). (Source)Wells also wrote two concise works on the history of the world: An Outline of World History (1920) and A Short Hist...
GUnlike many recent horror movies and novels, there is not any sex at all in this story.