The woman in black door Susan Hill

The woman in black

Biography of Susan Hill

Susan Elizabeth Hill was born at Scarborough in Yorkshire. She attended a grammar school in Coventry before studying English at the University of London, gaining her degree in 1963. Her first book, The enclosure (1961) was quite well received and on leaving university she became book review editor for the Coventry Evening Telegraph. After five years in this post she became a full-time author. She won many awards for her work during the 1960's and early 1970's, but because someone very close to her died she engaged in a period of grieving, finding some release in writing her novel In the springtime of the year, published in 1974. She announced that she would give up writing and in 1975 married Stanley Wells, a Shakespeare scholar. However, her creative output continued, particularly in non-fiction and plays for radio. She began writing novels again in the early 1980's, with the successful The woman in black (1983), a ghost story.
In her work, a backdrop of English life is shown in a less than comfortable way, with much suffering and violence. Strange meeting (1971), for example, is set in the trenches of First World War France and takes its inspiration from the poetry of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. The story of two officers, its title is taken directly from one of Wilfred Owen's most memorable poems.
A few of the books she wrote are:
· The albatross and other stories (1971)
· The bird of night (1972)
· A bit of singing and dancing (1973)
· Can it be true? (1988) [for children]
· A change for the better (1969)
· Lanterns across the snow (1987) [Non-fiction]

Summary

The story begins on a Christmas Eve. The main character, Arthur Kipps, is spending it with his family. When the kids start to tell ghost stories and ask Arthur to tell one too he says he doesn’t know any. The kids don’t believe it and keep pushing Arthur to tell one. He kind of freaks out and goes outside for a walk. Outside he thinks of a story that he does know, one that has happened to him when he was younger and he decides to tell it. Not that evening, but he will write it down, as a book. Then his story begins.
Arthur Kipps is a young accountant living in London and happily engaged with Stella, when his boss, Mr. Bentley, sends him out to Crythin Gifford, to handle the case of the late Mrs. Drablow. In the train to Crythin Gifford he meets a man called Samuel Daily, one of the rich landowners around Crythin and during their trip they talk a bit. At the end of their journey Daily gives Kipps his card.
Kipps arrives at Crythin Gifford and goes to his hotel. He sleeps very well and is looking forward to spend a few more days in Crythin. The next morning he goes to Mrs. Drablow’s funeral together with Mr. Jerome, the local agent in Crythin. When they arrive they seem to be the only ones there, which surprised Kipps because he at least would’ve expected some family. Then suddenly Kipps sees a woman, all dressed in black. When Kipps asks Mr. Jerome who she is, he faints and nothing else is said.
When he arrives at the hotel, again he prepares himself to go to Eel Marsh House, Mrs. Drablow’s house, later that afternoon to do some of the work that he’s supposed to do. A certain Mr. Keckwick will take him there and return later to pick him up again. Fascinated by the house and it’s surroundings Kipps decides that he will take some bags with clothes and some food with him tomorrow, so he can spend some nights at Eel Marsh House and than Keckwick doesn’t have to drive him to and from every day. After Keckwick has left, when Kipps goes out for a walk around the house, he sees the woman in black again. He tries to reach her but she runs away and Kipps gives up, and goes back to the house.
Because there’s too little time left to do some useful work Kipps decides to leave Eel Marsh House for that day and walk back to Crythin. That way he saves Keckwick a ride up and down and he can get some fresh air. When he’s outside on the marshes a sudden fog comes up. It gets too thick to see anything and suddenly Kipps hears the sound of a pony and trap. He thinks it is Keckwick and starts walking towards the sound. Then he realizes the sound isn’t coming from a particular place. Suddenly he hears the whinnying and screaming of a drowning pony and child. Terrified by this sound Kipps finds his way back to Eel Marsh House and waits there. He falls asleep and is woken 7 hours later by the sound of a bell. The doorbell. Keckwick is outside and Kipps realizes it wasn’t Keckwick when he heard the sound of a pony and a trap earlier that afternoon. They go back to the hotel but Kipps doesn’t sleep as comfortable as he did the night before.
The next day Kipps goes for a cycle trip around the countryside and when he gets back at the hotel he walks in to Mr. Daily who invites him for dinner at his house that night. Daily asks Kipps about Eel Marsh House and Kipps tells him he’s planning to spend some nights there. Daily doesn’t stop him but isn’t so keen on it either and offers Kipps to take a dog with him called Spider. Kipps accepts the offer and so he goes off to Eel Marsh House the next day, accompanied by Spider. He works a bit that day and then goes to sleep. That night a regularly bumping sound wakes him up. He goes out on the passage in the house and towards the sound. The sound comes from behind a locked door and Kipps goes back to bed.
The next morning Arthur cycles back to Crythin to refill his food stock and then returns to Eel Marsh House again. He reads some letters he had found and goes to bed later that day. That night the same noise as the night before wakes him up. He goes straight to the locked door and the sound continues. He tries to open the door but it doesn’t open. He goes outside because he remembered he had seen an axe and wants to get it and breaks in into the room, to identify the sound. When he’s outside to get the axe he hears the sound again: a pony and trap with a child, who is screaming and drowning. He realizes now this has something to do with ghosts, because there isn’t anyone around the house that night.
Kipps goes back into the house again and upstairs, to the locked door. Now the door isn’t locked anymore but the sound is still going on. Kipps enters the room and sees where the sound is coming from: a rocking chair, with nobody in it. The chair stops rocking and Kipps explores the room. It’s a nursery and it seems to be completely intact as if the child can come back any moment.
That night, Kipps awakes again, this time by Spider who wants to go out. When they’re outside he hears a sharp whistle. Spider rushes to where the noise is coming from and runs straight into the marsh. Kipps sees the dog drowning and runs toward her and tries to save her. After a long hard struggle he manages to save her and they stumble back towards the house. A few yards away from the house Kipps sees the woman in black in front of the nursery window. When he tries to reach the grass in front of the house, Kipps hears a sound: the sound of a pony and trap.
The next thing he knows is that he is back in Eel Marsh House again and that Samuel Daily is there with him. Daily had come to pick him up because he was concerned about him. Kipps goes upstairs to pack his bags and he visits the nursery once again. It is now in a state of disorder.
Kipps goes to Daily’s house where he stays a while and finally gets to hear the full story of the woman in black. The most shocking part is that, whenever someone sees the woman in a black, an innocent child dies.
The day he planned to return to London he gets sick. He stays a few more days and then gets a visit from Stella, his fiancée. The next day they go home and within a few weeks they are married. More than a year after their marriage Stella gives birth to their son: Joseph Arthur Samuel. Another year after that, on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, they go to a park. Stella and Joseph take a ride on a pony and trap. At the moment Stella and Joseph are in the trap Kipps sees the woman in black. He’s somewhat paralysed and then he sees Stella and his son coming back with the pony and trap. They are almost back and then the pony takes off and runs between the trees, out of control. The trap collides with one of the trees and Joseph is immediately dead, Stella is terribly injured, she dies 10 months later from her injuries.

Theme

The theme in this book is ‘endless revenge’. The ghost of the woman whose
baby died, comes back every time to take revenge. This will go on forever and ever.

Explanation of the title

The title is very good, the woman in black is the ghost who takes revenge on everyone in her house. She does that because her child died a long time ago. She is the person where it’s all about in this book, so it’s logical that the book is titled after her.

Motives

- The sound of a ponytrap, this is the trap where the boy was in when he got an accident. Arthur hears it over and over again.
- The sound of a drowning child, this is the child of the woman in black. The boy had an accident in the marsh with a ponytrap and drowns. Arthur hears this sound many times in the book.
- A woman in black, she is the mother of the drowned boy and she appears to Arthur several times. She wants to take revenge for the death of her son.

Characterizations

- Arthur Kipps, he is the main character in the book, he is solicitor for living. At the beginning he doesn’t believe in ghost or any ‘fantasy’ figures but after his encounter with the woman in black he does. This turns him into a silent man. He is engaged with Stella. He is a round character because he changes during the story.
- The woman in black, this is the ghost of a woman. Arthur keeps seeing her during the story. She kills babies to take revenge for the death of her own child. Her real name is Jennet Humfrye. She is a flat character, she doesn’t change in the book.
- Samuel Daily, he is a friendly man, who helps Arthur and gives him a dog to have some company in the big empty house Eel Marsh. Samuel and Arthur become friends. He is a round character because he changes in the book.
- Mr. Jerome, he is a lawyer at Crythin Gifford. His own baby is killed by the woman in black. He helps Arthur, but stays in the background. He is a flat character who doesn’t changes in the book.
- Mr. Keckwick, he is the housekeeper of Eel Marsh House. He takes Arthur to and from the house with his horsetrap. He is a helpful but silent man. He is a flat character who doesn’t change in the book.
There a some other characters but they don’t play roles that are worth mentioning.

Time and place

The story takes place at a little town in the country side of England, Crythin Gifford. The biggest part of the strory is set around the house of a late woman, Mrs. Drablow. It has the name ‘Eel Marsh House’, that’s because it is built in a marsh.
The story is told by Arthur on Christmas evening. That doesn’t take much time, about an hour or two. The actual story however takes much more time, about half a year. That’s an autumn and a winter in the fifties.

Narrative Perspective

The narrator of this story is the main character, Arthur Kipps. He tells his story on a Christmas evening when he is fifty or so. He tells the story as a flashback. Because he tells it himself, you get a subjective view over the story and Arthur.

The end

The end is very dramatic. Arthur thinks he is done at Crythin Gifford and with the woman in black. But when he lets his wife and his little child take a ride in a trap, the trap gets an accident and both his wife and his child die. The woman in black took revenge again.

My opinion about the book

I liked this book very much. In the beginning I thought it would be very boring. Mostly I thought that because I don’t like ghost stories and because the first few chapters were very boring. They were so boring because the time went so slow. But when Arthur was at Eel Marsh House it got very exciting. Susan Hill really created a scary setting and you really want to know what will happen next. You also want to know where all the weird noises come from and what has happened in the past.
I would’ve been very scared when I was in the house were Arthur is in the story. I would have gone away after the first day, I am sure of that. So I think Arthur is very brave and that he is a good man. He is always very kind and gentle to everyone. It’s really sad that he looses his wife and child at the end of the story, he didn’t deserve that in my opinion. He has gone through so much because of the woman in black and then he also has to miss his wife and child forever because of her. That’s just the most awful thing that could happen to such a nice man as Arthur. But it’s unexpected that the wife and baby die and that’s a good thing if you want a exciting story, I don’t like books in which you know the end in the beginning already.
Although there’s a ghost in the story it’s realistic, something I didn’t expect when I started reading the book. I think it could happen, certainly when you are reading it when you’re home alone on a dark misty evening. Ghosts don’t exist, but you never know of course, and this seems so real and it’s set up in such a believable way, you are going to believe it when you are reading the book. That’s another thing what makes this book so scary I think. If something is complete nonsense you’ll think, this isn’t real, this can’t happen, but if you think “wow this can happen for real”, then it’s very scary. Susan Hill is a good writer, she can make a ghost story realistic, that’s is very good, because most people, like me for example, don’t believe in ghosts.
Another thing that makes this story so scary is the setting of the place where it takes place. It’s in England on the countryside and it is set in the autumn and the winter. The days are short then and it’s dark until late in the morning and in the afternoon it’s getting dark very early, that’s much more scary then when it would’ve taken place in the summer. That’s because the days are much longer and there is not so much mist then. Also the idea that the man is all by himself in that big house makes it scary, the house is far away from everything, so he can’t just go away or invite someone to keep him company. If it would’ve taken place in a big city, it would’ve been less scary because you can go out then or ask help from your neighbours or call the police.
The person I liked the most in the book was Arthur. He is a nice young man who does his work well. I like him because he is nice to everyone. The person I didn’t like in the book, was the woman in black. I understand that she is very sad because of the death of her child but I don’t think you should kill other children than to make your sadness go away or to take revenge. That’s just unfair and when does it stop, will it ever? She just kills every child, that’s not good. It isn’t ok to take revenge, but if you take revenge anyway you have to stop at some point, but she doesn’t do that. You just can’t kill innocent children to make yourself happier or take revenge or whatever. They can’t do anything about the fact that her child died in the past, so it’s makes no sense to take revenge anyway.
My opinion about the book in general is good, it’s a nice book. It’s very exciting and unpredictable. I really wanted to know why all the things in the book happen as they do, that a good thing. And the end is very unpredictable and good, it may be not so nice for Arthur but it’s a good end for this story.