“His mind was like a forum”
The first-person narrator’s character description in the story “The Eyes” acts a sharp reminder to anyone who mind for a moment be confused that these ghost stories are written in the traditional sense of such a lurid genre. Edith Wharton was, almost above all else, a stylist; her precise control of narrative technique is capable of providing two perspectives simultaneously in her more traditional fiction. Even within the confines of simple generic fiction, however, mastery of technique reveals itself.
“His mind was like a forum, or some open meeting place for the exchange of ideas: somewhat cold and drafty, but light, spacious and orderly—a kind of academic grove from which all the leaves have fallen.”
Spectral Flaws
The spectral presence of ghostly intruders in the stories of Wharton tend not to be of the kind that make a showy display of their haunting. The ghosts in these stories are subtle manifestations; as subtle as Wharton’s writing. It may seem strange that the woman who wrote The Age of Innocence would be writing ghost stories, but keep in mind that Wharton’s tales of upper crust society are in many ways stories of the ghosts of outmoded traditions and social conventions haunting the lives placed in conflict between the old ways and the new.
"She was sure that the nearness of any other human being, however dumb and secret, would have made a faint crack in the texture of that silence, flawed it as a sheet of glass is flawed by a pebble thrown against it…."
Lost in England
In a story partially about the search for a missing man, this metaphor takes on ironic weight. It is one character’s favorite phrase to depict his feelings about how small England is. So small that one would be tasked to get lost.
“A confoundedly hard place to get lost in!”
Weather as Metaphor
Setting is an essential component of these ghost stories; the creation of a sense of atmosphere drives the narrative toward the inevitably appearance of the ghost. The lively metaphorical imagery at play here is a description of New Hampshire winter and its appearance at the introduction of the story lays a the foundation for the vital significance that weather will actually play in the plot.
"Dark, searching and swordlike, it alternately muffled and harried its victim, like a bullfighter now whirling his cloak and now planting his darts."
Metaphorical Foreshadows
This is the narrator’s assessment of a Brittany mansion giving the story its title: “Kerfol.” Wharton is being a little playful with the use of figurative language here. It’s not just a metaphor; it’s foreshadowing.
“Tombs in the chapel? The whole place is a tomb!”
