"Harry " by Rosemary Timperley is a short story skilfully written as the writer uses many different writing techniques such as : imagery, foreshadowing, structure and symbolism. This iessay wil identify how these techniques enhance the reader's experience and their understanding of this chilling tale.
The story "Harry" is about a young adopted girl named Christine. During the summer months before Christine starts school, she begins talking to Harry, whom she believes to be her brother. However, no one else can see him. Mrs James, Christine's adoptive mother becomes incredibly worried and begins to investigate about Christine's previous family and uncovers the dark secrets with terrifying consequences. This helps it fall into the horror genre.
The opening paragraph of "Harry" is difficult to undersrand at the start as it is just normal everyday things than make Mrs James afraid. This catches the reader's attention as the things she fears do not usually appear in horror stories. The adoptive mother of Christine, Mrs James plays the role of the narrator of the story. This is effective as it tells the story from someone who experienced the events that occured during this short story. The story starts and finishes in the same way with the same paragraph:
"Such ordinary things make me afraid. Sharp shadows on grass. White roses. Children with red hair. And the name - Harry. Such an ordinary name."
This is effective as it sums up what to look out for during the course of the short story without giving it away. As a reader this makes me want to read on to find out the reason for Mrs James' fears. By the end you realise what all of Mrs James' fears stood for and why these everyday objects play such a large part of the story.
Additionaly, the setting of "Harry" is different to normal horror stories as the story is set during the summer and appears to be very bright, which is an unusual setting for a story in the horror genre. However, mid-way through the story something very peculiar happens, making the reader very interested to find out what is happening. For instance:
"My hands were trembling as i put on my hat and gloves. It was chilly in the house nowadays, as if there were a cold shadow over it in spite of the sun outside."
This suggests that something is wrong as the weather outside is hot and warn yet inside it is "chilly" and Mrs James puts a hat and gloves on. The word chilly is used to add effect and that something is not right. The word "shadow" suggests that everything is not as it seems and something bad is going to happen as it takes the heat away from the summer and leaves the weather to be cold and "chilly".
In addition, Timperley uses characterisation very effectively to create a successful short story. One of the first characters we encounter is the adopted child of Mrs James, Christine. At the beginning of the story Timperley makes the reader intrigued by Christine. For Example:
" 'Yes I'm Christine' she said. She rose and walked slowly towards the bush."
This is engrossing as most young children would walk away from a stranger whereas Christine does the opposite. Also, it is not a physical being that Christine is talking to, it is a rose bush which makes the reader want to read on and discover who Christine is talking to and what is happening.
However, Christine changes throughout the course of the short story. Christine begins to speak with a slight cockney accent and becomes very attatched to Harry. She also becomes upset that Mrs James does not believe her:
"She was at the window. She said:
'Harry's waiting.'
'Where Chris?' I said quietly, wanting suddenly to see with her eyes.
'There. By the rosebush.'
The doctor had a bush of white roses in his garden.
'There's no one there,' I said. Chris gave me a glance of unchildlike scorn."
This shows that Harry is being represtented as being seen by Christine when there is a white rose bush present. This quote also shows how angered Christine was towards her mother because Mrs James disagreed with Christine on Harry's existance, It also demonstrates how attatched Christine was abd how much she cared for Harry.
Furthermore, the story is successfully written by using different examples of foreshadowing to build up tension and suspence.
An example of this would be:
" 'Chris, who were you talking to?'
'Harry,' she said.
'Who's Harry?'
'Harry'. "
This is an example of foreshadowing and tension building as Christine has been speaking to an unknown person. Mrs James becomes concearned as Christine has not started school yet, she does not have many friends and Harry all of a sudden keeps popping up.
Another example of tension and fear developing is when physical evidence of Harry begins to become apparent, Timperley writes
"Chris ran ahead of me. She looked up as if at someone beside her. For a
brief, dreadful second, I saw a shadow on the pavement alongside her own- a long, thin shadow- like a boy's shadow."
Fear is built up here as Mrs James sees physical evidence of Harry and is no longer able to be consoled by rational voices. Fear and tension also develops here as the shadow also fits previous descriptions given by Christine earlier in the story.
These recurring times of tention captivates the reader and makes them want to read on to discover who Harry really is.
Rosemary Timperley uses figurative launguage very appropriately throughout the short story, making it easy for the reader to detect danger without giving anything away. For example:
"The white roses danced before my eyes and turned read."
This example of personifacation portrays a vivid picture of the roses to emphasise their importance to the story, and as they turn red this sends out a sense of danger and fear to the reader.
Similarly, another example would be:
"The sun struck me like a hot blade."
This is a simile which is used to compare the sun to a weapon cutting into Mrs James and is described to be an enemy of Mrs James indicating that something is definitely wrong and highlights Mrs James' isolation and need for help.
In conclusion "Harry" by Rosemary Timperley is a skillfully written short story as it uses many different writing techniques. It stimulated a sense of fear by placing danger and insecurity in usually safe enviroments. It achieved the vital criteria needed to write a successful short story by taking the element of safety out of normal everyday places. Overall these features improve the reader's understanding of the story and making it more appealing to read.
