The Storm
Analysis of “The Storm” McKnight Malmars scary story “The Storm” weaves together murder and a violent thunderstorm to create a frightening fear for Janet Willsom. The storm is a mix of Janets emotions, Mother Nature and Janets heartbreaking dilemmas. Janet Willsom is returning home from a vacation with her sister. Janet is worried about Ben’s location as there is an extremely strong storm outside. Janet wonders about Ben’s whereabouts. Ben receives a letter from her, which she discards because she is certain that this letter will not be any different to the previous ones. This suspenseful tale shows her lonely, far from the noisy urban streets.
As the storm continued to worsen, she began to hear footsteps. Is this the ghostly husband or something else? The ghostly face in the window was probably her husband’s imagination. She decided to go to the basement and get some wood to start a fire. The basement was damp, dark and cold. Janet wondered what the wind did to blow it open. Because of the strong wind, Janet grabbed the doorknob to close it. She walked to the firewood, which was just around the corner. Then she realized that her trunk was cracked. She walked up to it and opened it. A woman dressed in a red gown and wearing a man’s ring was found lying in the trunk. Janet ran down the basement stairs in terror, and locked the door with a wooden chair. Janet ran up the basement stairs in terror, locked the door and reinforced it with a heavy wooden chair. Janets husband Ben came in the front door looking soaked, dirty, and pale. She began to share the details with her husband. He couldn’t believe that there was someone outside, or that there was even a human in the trunk. Janet took him downstairs and showed him the trunk. She began to wonder if she was seeing things when she saw the same ring with diamonds on her husband’s fingers as she had seen on the woman. Her husband has killed her. She runs up basement stairs, feeling both fearful and strong. Ben shouting her name is ignored and she sprints out of her house. It was like I was watching every movement of her, but not seeing her. It was also a third-person perspective that kept you guessing.
She is constantly reminded of the wonderful qualities she has married and misses him. Janet doesn’t see the letters, but he always resents New York City. These letters may have been sent by his mistress, who was trying to blackmail him into leaving his wife. She was very concerned about the storm and became more anxious about it. (244) I believe that Janet is feeling the storm from outside. However, Janet also feels the storm from within. She has doubts about her husband’s fidelity. Concerning the ghostly figure in the window and the woman in the trunk, her husband shot his mistress and then heard Janet running from the basement. Janet saw him through the glass. He broke the basement window to take the dead body to dispose of her. Janet had been to the basement to obtain firewood. Janet longs for her husband’s protection during the storm, and she finds comfort in the calm after the storm passes.
