Broken Dreams

The Canterville Ghost

The Canterville Ghost

The Canterville Ghost is a book which goes beyond its superficial wit and humor, it is filled with emotions not feared in words. It gives you a certain picture of humanity which delivers a hope that every person gets a second chance in life to experience eternal peace even if it is after being tormented to live as dead. The Otis family give a whole ordeal of advertisement of different tricks and techniques to scare anyone away even a ghost. Mr. Otis and the twins portray a distraughted image of the family which beware the canterville ghost from the American family. This book moves from creating a contrast between American and British society to the haunting past of a murderer ghost.

Otis family is a family of six, husband, wife, their eldest son Washington, daughter Virginia, and the twins. The story is told through the eyes of a very animated ghost, Sir Simon, himself who appears in many different costumes and personas – Red Reuben, Strangled Babe, Dumb Daniel, Suicide's Skeleton, Martin the Maniac, Masked Mystery, Reckless Rupert, Headless Earl and so on. The first night, Sir Simon decides to haunt the family by his age old cliché school way, as he goes dressed shabby with clinking chains around him to scare the father of the children but in term is greeted by Mr. Otis with a container of Rising Sun Lubricator for him to oil his manacled chains so he doesn't make so much noise and disturb the family's sleep. The twin boys also throw a pillow at him after his failure to scare.

Never in his three hundred years of haunting people at Canterville Chase has he ever received that kind of reception by his residents. The tables have been turned on the ghost, and instead of terrifying the residents, they instead "scare" him. The twins use their pea shooters and discharge pellets at Sir Simon. One night after he attempts to frighten the family with one of his terrible laughs, Mrs. Otis lets him know that he sounds quite terrible and offers him a bottle of Doctor Dobell's tincture.

After days of hard graft and still his efforts being productive less he decides to that he has lost his fought battle straightforwardly from those mortal erratic beings. Thus everyday the twins would lay in wait for Sir Simon on several occasions laying traps for him but he never appears. The family concludes that the ghost has left Canterville Chase. All during this time, Virginia was the only one in the family that did not play a trick on the ghost.

And one day she encounters the ghost while entering the house and watches him as he looks in the oblivion in utter silence. And then a few minutes after the defeated ghost spills out his emotional heart wreaking story to the little Virginia, as he believes she can grant him forgiveness and allow him to rest in his grave. As said she helps him through the portal and in turn the ghost gives Virginia a small jewellery box. Thus the story comes to a bitter sweet end. With loads of humorous and sad turns it is, a worth while read for a light hearty book.

Suited for age group: 10 and above. Revised and reviewed edition.
©Varnika Saha