Two authors can have a similar to almost identical main concept behind their writings, but develop the plot line in two very separate ways. This is the case for the two stories that will be compared in this essay. "The Lawyer and the Ghost" by Charles Dickens and "20th Century Ghost" by Joe Hill, are two very different stories on the surface, but they have an almost identical main idea behind them. These stories were written almost one hundred years apart and the only thing that they appear to have in common is the fact that they are both have ghosts appear in them, however, when you put both of the stories next to each other they have more in common than you notice at first glance. When put together both stories have pesky ghosts that are bothering a business, but when dealt with they have to use different strategies. 

The first of the two stories is "The Lawyer and the Ghost" by Charles Dickens. This short narrative packs a lot of information into its two pages, and does a fantastic job of developing its plot line with how short it is.  To start off Dickens uses an un-named narrator that introduces a man, which like the narrator, is not given a name. The man in the story goes and gets a room at an extremely old run down inn that has been neglected and hasn't been stayed in for many years. The narrator describes the inn and the man saying "It certainly was very far from being a cheerful one; but he was poor, and the rooms were cheap, and that would have been quite a sufficient reason for him, if they had been ten times worse than they really were." (Dickens 307) The room that the man is staying in is then described with particular detail to an old wooden press for papers which had big glass doors and a curtain on the inside of it, which he had no need for. The man finishes moving all of his things into the room and sits down by the fire place drinking some whiskey and talks to the old wooden press because he has nothing else to talk to, when he heard a strange groan that seemed to come from the press. He assumed that the noise had come from another room until he heard the noise again, but this time along with the noise the glass doors slowly opened themselves revealing a figure inside. Terrified the man picks up a hot poker and aims it at the figure, to which the figure says "Don't throw that poker at me, if you hurled it with ever so sure an aim, it would pass right through me, without resistance, and expend its force on the wood behind. I am a spirit." (Dickens 308) The man asks the ghost what he wants with him, and the ghost tells the man about how he had lived a very miserable life in the very room they were in and he had died of grief in there. The ghost then tells the man that he room belongs to him and that the man needs to leave it. Being very clever the man responds to the ghost asking him shy he chooses to return to the miserable room, when he could travel to the most beautiful places on earth since he is a ghost. The ghost thinks this statement over and tells the man that he is right, and that he had never thought about that. The man then tells the ghost that his duty to tell this to other ghosts that are haunting old places, and with this the ghost agrees and fades away never returning to the room again.

The second story "20th century ghost" by Joe Hill is a longer story that talks about a movie theater that is haunted by a girl that was nineteen years old, named Imogene Gilchrist. It is said that this girl was a regular in the movie theater and one night when she was watching a movie someone came in and shot her in the head while watching the Wizard of Oz. ever since that day people in the theater have reported that they have seen and talked to her. After Hill finishes describing Imogene, he goes on to talk about the main character that is a man named Alec Sheldon. Alec first saw the ghost of Imogene when he was fifteen years old. He had just recently found out that his brother died in World War II, as he was sitting in the theater he noticed a girl next to him. He started to talk to her when he noticed that she was bleeding and that something wasn't quite right. The girl started to talk about Alec's brother and being scared and upset Alec got up to leave, But when he looked back at her and he saw "now she was slumped very low in her seat. Her head rested on her left shoulder. Her legs hung shrewdly open. There was thick strings of blood, dried and crusted, running from her nostrils, bracketing her thin-lipped mouth. Her eyes were rolled back in her head. In her lap was an overturned carton of popcorn." (Hill 317) The story then goes on to talk about Alec going to talk to the owner of the theater who tells him that the ghost appears and is threatens to close the theater because he doesn't belong there. The two talk for a long time and eventually Alec ends up getting a job there. Eventually Alec becomes the owner of the theater and he closes the theater for renovations. A lady that saw the ghost decided to film the renovation and the grand re-opening which they decided to show The Wizard of Oz. The theater was completely full except for one seat right next to Alec. In the ladies recording it showed the crowd's reaction to the movie with a great view of Alec. Towards the end of the movie, the recording shows a lady in blue kissing Alec. Once the lights turn on all of the people are stunned to find Alec's body slumped over in his seat dead.

These Two stories are very similar in the fact that they are about ghosts, but the ghosts themselves have a lot in common. Both of these ghosts won't leave the place that they died, and they want people to leave their place of rest. In the first story the man wants his home to be left alone so he scares the tenants away and keeps the place to himself. Just like the haunted inn in Charleston South Carolina where one guest claimed "He said he recalled reaching out and touching the coarse material of the apparition's overcoat. The ghost's raspy breathing became a kind of threatening moan when the guest touched his coat." (Hastie) The ghost in the second story wants people to be leave her theater so she scares them away by showing her dead body. They both use the scare tactics to get rid of unwanted guests. The second thing that they have in common is that both of the ghosts are fixed to objects. The male ghost is fixed to his wooden press and appears when people are near it, just like the second ghost who is fixed to the theater.

 All though these two ghosts are very similar in the way that they are presented, they are dealt with very differently. The first man in the story is able to reason with the ghost and convince him that he shouldn't stay is the depressing room when he could go out and see all of the world instead. Imogene isn't as easy to deal with, she stays and scares people until she is finally united with Alec when they kiss and he dies, leaving the assumption that they are together. Another difference between these two stories are the feeling that the main characters have towards the ghosts. In "The Lawyer and the Ghost, the man simple doesn't want to be bothered by the ghost anymore so he comes up with a clever way to rid himself of the ghost, In "20th Century Ghost" Alec seems to have feelings towards the ghost and shows great interest in her by asking for a job at the movie theater after he is haunted by her, and how he ends up kissing the ghost in the end of the story. 

In conclusion these two stories have very similar plot lines that have to do with a ghost that wants to get rid of people. Despite how similar the plot is these stories do a great job of developing their stories in two very different ways. They both uses similar tactics to reach separate goals which results in two very different stories with very similar concepts.
