The red room

            
            
             The Characters have an eerie and mysterious manner. "This night of all nights, said the woman". The characters create tension, as you never now fully what they are talking about, we don't even know their or the narrators name. The narattor of this story is a person who wants to confront whatever lies within the red room, in an effort to uncover all the superstition that surrounds the room. In the first few lines we can see that the narrator is a confident and strong minded person, who is at the same time fair and, although in the room with the old people it is a difficult situation, he tries to be patient and polite to the other people. It shows he is confident in the first line when he says, "I can assure you that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me." He also seems very defiant when he stands up in front of the fire with his glass in his hand. Once the man with the withered arm is introduced an uneasy atmosphere takes over, he also creates mystery by making the reader wonder why he has a withered arm and whether it is anything to do with the red room. The man with the bad back is similar to the man with the withered arm by making the reader ask himself or herself how he got it and was it to do with the red room. The man with the withered arm also gives the narrator weird looks, and the old woman gives a unwelcoming attitude as she is first introduced. She is described as " staring hard into the fire, her pale eyes wide open" and "her head swaying from side to side. This seems to be the behaviour of a worried and distressed person. The narrator does become more uncomfortable as the story continues, but even the view of himself all misshapen in the "queer old mirror at the end of the room" does not make him less confident or more uncomfortable. The narrator seems very confident that no ghost will frighten him as he indicates in his words "well, if I see anything tonight, I shall be much the wiser.