-Elsie Brown
This humorous ghost story revolves around the three characters namely John
Hallock, his wife Lavinia and the Ghost Helena. Lavinia suspects that her husband
maintains a secret relationship with a girl and she says this with surety as she has
seen him talking with her alone. She decides to break her relationship with him.
Luckily she comes to know from the ghost itself that it is helping him write a ghost
story. Now they reconcile with each other.
Jenkins, a magazine publisher asks the writer to give some story on super natural
things. The writer accepts. The writer has no specialization in the ghost story
writing. As he sits for writing about ghostly things issues like house hold matters
crop up in his mind. Then he hears a voice and starts his conversation with a sheghost
as it were. The ghost says that she has come on his request through Ouija
board to help him write a story. The ghost asks him to avoid calling through Ouija
board. His wife calls him then and the ghost disappears and warns him about their
strike.
His wife asks him why he is sitting in the dark. She brings an Ouija board to know
about historical events to help him write a story. He does not like the idea and asks
her to return the board aback and get something else in its replacement. His wife
stares at him. He tries to write a story, but cannot do it. Then next Saturday he writes
his story. When he comes back, his mind is churning and his house is brightly
lighted. The room is filled with middle-aged women belonging to his wife‘s book
club. They are sitting with Ouija boards. He is scared that his wife may notice the
ghost. When his wife asks him to join the Ouija board, he refuses. Somehow his wife
comes to know from the Ouija board and the board operator namely Laura that John
has betrayed his wife by having relationship with a girl called Helen. She decides to
break the relationship, but luckily she comes to know from John that Helen is
helping him to write a ghost story.
Solved:
I)Short Answer Question:
a) Why did John wish he were dead?
Ans. The ladies gathered at his house hadtroubled him. The chaos created due to the
ladies‘ conversation and the Ouja board disturbed him a lot. Moreover his wife
doubted that he had an affair with Helen and threatened him that she would divorce
him.
II) Long Question Answer:
Describe A Shady Plot as a ghost story, describing the supernatural and the
atmosphere around which it revolves.
Ans. Helen, an owl-eyed and unattractive ghost plays a vital role in the story. She
appears in parts, first her arm, then a leg, a sleeve and at last, a complete woman
stood there. It does not create fear, on the other hand, the ghost appears to be a real
human being, and helps the couple to reunite at the end, instead of creating trouble in
their lives, as ghosts are supposed to do. Ouija boards are mentioned which are
intended to communicate with the spirits of the dead. Ouija boards help to get
answers to their questions. This story is different from other ghost stories as it does
not send a chill down the spine. Here the ghost does not threaten, but creates
inspiration and the best plot for writing a ghost story.
Questions
1. Why does the ghost appear before the writer?
2.How does the writer react when ghost appear before him?
3.Why does the ghost want the writer to stop his guests from using Ouija Board?
4.Why do Helen and other ghosts organize the writer‘s inspiration bureau?
5.What happened when Hallock sat down his desk and waited for getting ideas for
his ghost story?
6.How did the narrator react to the appearance of the ghost?
7.How was this ghost different form the ghosts the narrator used to write about in his
stories?
8.What did the ghost tell about herself which didn‘t sound that she was a ghost?
9.What did the ghost tell the narrator of her present assignment and what for did she
request him?
10.What made Lavinia buy Ouija board? How did the narrator react to her doing
so?What for did Lavinia buy the Ouija board for the narrator? How could he get help
form it?
11.―My wife is never so pretty as when she is doing something she knows I
disapprove of ―What did she do which he unapproved of?
12.What happened when Laura Hinkle worked on the Ouija board?
13.How did the Ouija board make things easier to understand after Miss Hinkle
asked it to explain itself more fully?
14.When did Helen, the ghost appear before the narrator?
15.‗It is all your fault. She glared at me‖
.What was the narrator‘s fault as per the ghost? What for did the narrator blame the
ghost?
14.Describe how Lavinia faced Helen, the ghost?
15.Explain the appropriateness of the title ―A Shady Plot‖
16.How does the narrator rate himself as a ghost story writer?
17.Why does the ghost appear before the writer?
18.How does the writer react when ghost appears before him?
19.Why does the ghost want the writer to stop his guests from using Ouija Board?
20.Why do Helen and other ghosts organize the writer‘s inspiration bureau?
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