Every story has different effects: two very opposite or two similar ones. Both of which are very imperative in the whole image. For many stories, there are many layers, contraries of good and evil, which make the stories more interesting. Pictures can also have many contraries of the difference in lighting or emotions. On the Christmas Eve, in the house where the frenzy moment takes place, a ghost suddenly appears and that makes everyone in the room in panic. The ghost, in white clothes, stands close to the wall holding a candle. The people are very scared of the ghost so they are escaping from the room. The image captures the entire scene of the room with frenzy people and chaotic furniture lying around, as well as characters' facial expression. Emphasizing three contraries in the image, which are bright and dark, chaotic and tranquil, and imagination and reality, the whole scene becomes more efficient in expressing the total theme and thus makes the image more expressible. 

The most conspicuous contrary in the image is between bright and dark. The entire image is quite shadowy and dark and has a dark green to grey as the background color. However, there are still some bright parts in the image. The only lighting source in the image, a candle that the ghost is holding, metaphorically means more than light, but power. Also, the candle has a purpose of making the image visible and illuminating the five people in the image in order to deeply show their emotions and actions. The effect that the candle has to the entire image is not only to light up the scene, but to further show how scary the people are and influence the people's interpretation of the story. The candle makes an anomalistic focus on five people in the picture. There are thirteen people in the picture; the focus of the image is only the five of them. The only face that is clearly shown in the image is the man in the middle. The lighting of the image clearly emphasizes the five people and their reaction to the ghost. The people on the left are not emphasized by the light, but they have a similar movement when they escape from the house. What abnormal about the lighting is that the candle jump over the furniture lying on the ground, directly focusing on the five people to maximize the intensity. Contrasting from the five people, the rest of the objects in the picture are relatively dark. The light seems to skip the first people from the ghost when he is in the dark part of the image. The man on the floor has a more creepy facial expression when his mouth is completely open; his facial expression illustrates more tension it has in the picture even though the man is not the focus of the picture because his face is relatively dark compare to the five characters.  The characters in the dark are not facing the front so the painter uses a relative dark tone. It is not difficult to realize the lighting differences in the picture, the light and dark, becomes an emphasis of the tension.

All the people in the room are scared of the ghost and trying to avoid the ghost, but the lady on the top of the stairs seems to be rather calm; these two contrary reactions magnify the tension of the image and create side effects to people who are scared. People in the room are very nervous about the ghost as they are all seem to be escaping the room; however, the lady on the top does not seem to acknowledge of what is going on in the room. The man who has a full facial expression is in panic, his face is strained and his hand gesture means that he wants to prevent him from being hurt by the ghost. The reaction of him shows that he is intimidated by the ghost, and his frenzy response affects the people around him. There is a girl right next to him holding his waist, is eager to have the protection from him. The action of the two people, holding and helping, represents a chaotic moment of the scene. The people on the left side do not have a frontal view of their facial expression because they are too scared to look in front. What is different from everyone else's action is the old lady standing all the way on the top of the stair, and she does not seem to be acknowledging of what is going on in the room. What the calmness can do is not only to make the image divergent, but also create some side effects that people will be more scared of the ghost. Her calmness emphasizes the more- chaotic downstairs. The contrast between the quiet and chaotic moment in one picture increases the anxiety of the scary situation.

While all the characters have contributed the special effect of the picture, the chaotic view of all the objects become a foil of the picture in order to make the effect more clear. It is not easy to find out that there is a boy behind the ghost, so the total ghost situation seems to be fake. There are two chairs lying right next to the ghost, which means that there is a barrier between the ghost and the people trying to escape from the ghost. The barrier does not only mean a stopper between those two parts, but also it means a border between imagination and reality. The imagination is what people think of the ghost, but the reality is the ghost is actually made by a boy. The left side of the picture tells how people's reaction toward the ghost, and the right side of the picture is the portrait of the ghost held by a boy. The barrier separates the truth and fake. The table on the left corner is lying on the ground and the top is facing in front. The desktop looks like a mirror in the photo though it does not have any reflection. The "mirror" produces virtual images instead of the real ones. The effect of having a desktop on the corner implies the contrary between fake and the truth. Another special arrangement of the picture is when connecting the table on the left corner, the chairs on the right and the top of the stairs; it creates an imaginary shield from the ghost. The ghost side creates a peaceful scene but the reality in hidden. This side provides a reason for the chaotic moment on the left side because the people think the ghost is real. On the left side of the circle, people are panicking and escaping from the danger, which looks real but being tricked; on the right side of the circle, the boy is behind the ghost and setting up the entire frenzy situation. The contrast between imagination and reality adds more fantasy into the image, thus it makes the picture more toward the reality.

Although the whole image has a relatively emphasized tone and effect, the contraries between bright and dark, turbulence and tranquil, and imagination and reality are very clear in the image, thus they hide more interpretations of the tension. The presence of the boy behind the ghost represents the reality of the picture. Those reactions of the people are misleading to the authentic of the image. The painter leaves a sign of reality in the least obvious place. These contraries generate more tension in the image, and also they make the image more colorful and thoughtful. 
