Essay Questions

What is the genre of this story?

This story can be characterized as being a gothic story for multiple reasons. Even though it was written quite recently and not in a time period when this type of literary genre was popular, this method of writing makes the story unique. In this type of writing, a greater accent is put on the feelings experienced by the characters instead of putting the accent of horrific descriptions of death. Even though death is mentioned, the reader becomes scared by experiencing the feelings of uncertainty and despair which plagues the main character. A great influence is put on the place where the action takes place, which in this type of writing is also someplace isolated and yet beautiful. In this context, the main character discovers a gruesome secret that almost inevitably affects his or her life in a permanent manner.

Why was Jennet Humfrye unable to keep her child?

The Woman in Black is revealed to be Jennet, the sister of the woman who owned the house when the action takes place. The main character finds that Jennet became pregnant but she was forced to give up her child to her sister. Jennet was unmarried and while the timeframe is not clearly stated, it is easy to deduct that the action most likely took place at the beginning of the 18th century. In those times, it was seen as unacceptable for a woman to have a child out of wedlock. Automatically, the child and the mother had to face extreme scrutiny by those around them. The child would be always regarded as a bastard and would face difficulties in finding a job and being taken seriously in society. It is probably that because of these reasons, the mother of the child took the decision to give him to her sister and her husband, so he could be properly adopted and have both a mother and a father.

Why is the timeframe not mentioned and how can we be certain when the action took place?

It is unclear why the writer decided not to give the exact year and place where the action took place. One of the main reasons could be that the author tried to create another dimension of suspense through this lack of information. Still, from the way the characters and the story are presented, we can conclude that the action takes place at the beginning of the 18th century. In the city, the people have the opportunity to move around using cars but this is generally true only for the upper class. In the country, horse carriages are still the common mean of transportation. Also, from the social stigma, the Woman in Black had to go through because she got pregnant before getting married we can assume that society was still strict when it came to sexual relationships outside of marriage, thus pointing to a time before the 1950s.