Differences and Similarities of Short Stories :: The Withered Arm The Red Room Essays

Differences and Similarities of Short Stories In this essay I will be comparing the differences and similarities of four short stories I have read, , 'The Signalman', The Red Room', 'The Man with the Twisted Lip' and 'The Withered Arm' also I will be looking at how the writers have created an atmosphere. The four stories are all of mystery and try to keep the reader gripped until the end, all have areas in which there is suspense. In 'The Signalman' Charles Dickens keeps the reader in suspense because when the ghost visits the signal man you don't really know who the haunting warning is for. In 'The Red Room' H.G. Wells keeps the reader in suspense because when the ghost is sighted it is never really described. In 'The Man with the Twisted Lip' Arthur Conan Doyle keeps the reader in suspense by not actually telling if it is a murder on just disappearance. Also in 'The Withered Arm' Thomas Hardy keeps the reader in suspense because you find out who Gertrude catches the rash from. Each writer had a setting and different historical background 'The Signal Man' was written in 1866 by Charles Dickens, the surroundings for his story was an old railway station with old steam trains. The Man with the Twisted Lip' written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was written in 1860. This story was one of many Sherlock Holmes tales which display aspects of life in the last decade of Victorians reign. 'The Red Room' by H.G Wells was a Gothic horror story, which had traditional scenery at a castle (Loraine castle). 'The Red Room' was written in 1894, H.G Wells makes it obvious how ancient and old fashioned everything in the castle was. 'The Withered Arm' by Thomas Hardy was written in 1865 and located in Wessex, around Dorchester which Thomas Hardy calls Caster bridge the county town of Dorset where most of his stories were set. 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens was set at an old rail way station, with steam trains. The idea of a signal box in the countryside and being manually operated, gives a sense of historical background for today's readers. 'The Man with the Twisted Lip' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was set in the streets of East London. A few years before the story was written a famous sequential killer 'Jack the Ripper' murdered people on the very same streets where the story was based on in the story it said "An endless succession of sombre and deserted streets. This gives the effect that the streets are frightening and vicious. 'The Red Room' by H.G Wells is a Gothic Horror story set in a