The Superstitious Man's Story

1260 Words6 Pages
‘The Superstitious Man's Story’ is set in a rural, in a secluded village at night, and there is not much happening there. This was not mentioned until later on in the story. In contrast to the first two stories ‘The Superstitious Man's Story’ is also set in a supernatural setting and is also a isolated place believed to be associated with magical events and other things. This suggests that there may be drama. The story was plotted in a church which took place in the parish and on Sunday. This makes the story religious. The three stories are written in different centuries, but are still in the horror genre. Within the setting of the atmosphere of the three stories there is intent for the reader to feel a sense of lonely, dark and spooky beginning which sets a path for the rest of the story to follow. However, to this story opening there is also a more dark and spooky side with the mentioning of ‘the sexton’ (a grave digger) and the mystery of common events, “ringing for church went very heavy all of a sudden.” This is pathetic fallacy as the writer is warning the reader that there is danger. This is also suggested in the first two stories. On the other hand, in ‘The Superstitious Man's Story’ it is much more difficult to negotiate what is going to happen from the beginning of the story. At the beginning the setting is a normal family one, with Betty doing the ironing and William upstairs in bed. Although it is still set at night, it much more difficult than in ‘A night at a cottage’ and the ‘The monkey’s paw’ to negotiate what was going to happen next. William is described as a “curious” man as used by the narrator. The word curious shows the person as being unfriendly and obnoxious, and a different individual person from the rest. ‘The Superstitious Man’s Story’ also portrays the feelings of being lonely because he was a “silent man” therefore shared little with
Open Document