The story "The Lawyer and the Ghost" by Charles Dickens and "20th Century Ghost" by Joe Hill are very similar. Dickens story talks about a lawyer who moves into an old inn and once there, he finds a paper press. Once the lawyer is settled into the new place a ghost appears. The ghost says that he lived and worked here and that the lawyer must leave (Hill 308). The lawyer talks to the ghost and persuades him to leave; the lawyer never hears from the ghost again. Similar to Dickens story Hill's story also talks about a ghost and a man. The man is the owner of a movie theater, the ghost is a woman who shows herself first to the main character when he was a young boy (Dickens). He becomes attached to the ghost and eventually buys the theater. Alec, the main character and owner of the theater, eventually becomes to old to run the theater and sells it to an old friend who is now a movie producer (Dickens 324). In the end of the story Alec is found dead in the theater after the reopening following a renovation of the theater. When people find him a short clip of what happens is seen on a video camera, the clip is of Alec and the ghost kissing (Dickens 326). There are many similarities throughout both stories; the main comparison between the two stories compare is that in the end both the ghost in "The Lawyer and the Ghost" and Alec in "20th Century Ghost" are both set free from their suffering and oppression they are facing and go to somewhere that is better.

Many similarities between the two stories are seen throughout. One main similarity is that the ghosts in both stories show themselves to humans. In "The Lawyer and the Ghost" the ghost only shows himself to one person (Hill), while the ghost in "20th Century Ghost" shows herself to many different people throughout the story (Dickens). However in "The Lawyer and the Ghost" the Lawyer convinces the ghost to leave, while in Hill's story the ghost in a way makes Alec leave. This difference causes the stories to have two very different endings. This difference also shows the power that the super natural can have on a human and also the power a human can have on the super natural. The ghost in both stories start out as scary figures and eventually turn into a likeable character. In the "20th Century Ghost," the ghost is introduced by the description of, "one of the glass doors slowly opened, disclosed a pale and emaciated figure in soiled and worn apparel...there was something about his skin, and gaunt and unearthly appearance...which no being of this world was ever seen to wear" (Dickens 308). This description creates that suspenseful and frightening atmosphere that accompanies ghosts. Similar to the ghost in Dickens story, Imogene, the ghost in Hill's story, is introduced by, "There was a fresh runner of blood leaking from her left nostril and blood on her lips...a white moth had landed on her face. It was crawling up her cheek. She didn't notice...She glanced at him and smiled. She had blood staining her teeth," this creates a sense of horror (Hill 317). Eventually throughout both stories the ghost become less threating. The comparison of these two ghost create a similarity between the two stories such that they show themselves to humans and throughout both stories they become more likeable.

The time period that "The Lawyer and the Ghost" was written in has a large impact on the story itself. Written between 1836 and 1837 England was overcome by long lasting lawsuits and never ending court processes many of which were very "amateur" because non-practicing lawyers would prepare the cases (Langbein 21). The court process included having to go through a pretrial, a trial with a judge, possibly a trial with a jury and eventually the conclusion of the process (Langbein 23-29). If the accused had to go to a trial with a jury the process would take extensively longer because of the incredibly long selection process of jurors (Langbein 27). In "The Lawyer and the Ghost" the ghost goes through this menacing process which eventually leads to his death. The ghost describes his suffering "the papers in a long, long suit, which accumulated for years, were deposited. In this room, when I had died of grief, and long-deferred hope" (Dickens 308) Dickens was fascinated with the courts of England and their overwhelming processes, "Dickens richly populated his novels with lawyers, trials, and the law," and this is shown throughout many of his stories (Wertheim 115). The theme of the court system is also seen with the lawyer in the story. The new tenant living in the inn is a lawyer as seen in the pre-reading.  In today's society lawyers are wealthy and well respected but in this time period lawyers were overworked and fairly poor. This can be seen in the story when the place the lawyer is staying in is described, "an old, damp, rotten set of chambers, in one of the most ancient Inns," (Dickens 307). The difference between the ghost and the lawyer however is that the lawyer is not brought down by the struggles of the court system. He has found a way to cope with the hard times. The lawyer drank, "the first glass of two gallons of whiskey he had ordered," the lawyer decides to deal with the struggles of the times with alcohol (Dickens 308). He also helps the ghost get to a better place in his life by asking why he and many other ghosts like him return to the "places where you have been most miserable," this makes the ghost realize that he does not have to be bound to this horrible place anymore and is free to go where he pleases (Dickens 309). This somewhat compares to the story of "20th Century Ghost" and what happens to Alec.

In "20th Century Ghost" Alec loses his brother to World War II. This happened when Alec was only fifteen. Alec could have possibly developed some sort of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder or separation anxiety after the loss of his bother. A few days later he goes to the movie theater and meets Imogene, the ghost of the theater. After he meets Imogene he runs out of the theater because he is so scared and meets the owner, Harry. Harry tells Alec what happened to Imogene and gives him the obituary. After hearing what happened, Alec feels a kind of connection to Imogene because he just lost his brother in a similar fashion. This may have happened because of the connection between attachment behavior and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (de Zulueta). Doctor Zulueta describes this as the connection between a caregiver and their "child" or in Alec's case his brother and himself (de Zulueta). Both his brother and Imogene died at a young age with a full life ahead of them. Alec also feels this connection because his brother, Ray, took him to see movies at the theater, so this strengthens the tie between Alec and Imogene. As a result of this connection he feels, Alec develops an attachment to her and later on in life buys the theater. This is a result of Alec trying to cover up the hole that his brother left him when he died in the war. This is a subconscious reaction Alec is having. He is doing this subconsciously because "human(s)...seek contact with other creatures  --  an 'attachment figure'" (de Zulueta). Alec does this because after the loss of his brother he is emotionally distraught and Imogene offers some sort of comfort to his distraught feelings or in other words his "attachment figure (de Zulueta). In the story a strong visual of how upset Alec was can be seen when Hill writes, "The stinging in his eyes was so intense he couldn't stand it, and it hurt to breathe. He rubbed at his wet nose, and focused intently on crying as soundlessly as possible," (Hill 320). This sort of crutch that Imogene provides to Alec can be compared to the alcohol that the lawyer in Dickens story relies upon.

Although the two stories have many differences the crutches that each character relies upon in the stories can be compared to each other. The alcohol and Imogene both provide a relaxing and comforting feeling to the lawyer and Alec. As well as these crutches in the end Alec and the ghost in "The Lawyer and the Ghost" are both set free from their suffering. Alec is set free from his old age and his worrying about the theater and the ghost is set free from his imprisonment from the old inn.
