4. Significance

Ghost Story by Peter Straub



Two significant elements of Ghost Story are: the Chowder society, and the location of their meetings.


A quote from Peter Straub, page 43:
"The group called the Chowder Society had only a few rules: they wore evening clothes (because thirty years ago, Sears had rather liked the idea), they never drank too much (and now they were too old to anyhow), they never asked if any of the stories were true (since even the outright whoppers were in some sense true), and though the stories went around the group in rotation, they never pressured anyone who had temporarily dried up."

The Chowder society is a group of old chaps that once a year come together once a year and revel over the past and their lost friend, and tell ghost stories.
The significance of this pertains solely to the fact that so much is revealed and stewed over at these meetings, not necessarily verbally, but the author gives a view into the memoirs of each character. Without these meetings, half of the story would be missing. This element is quite crucial.


A quote from Peter Straub, page 41:
"Of all the rooms in which they habitually met, this was Ricky's favorite- the library in Sears James's house, with its worn leather chairs, tall indistinct glass-fronted bookcases, drinks on the little round table, prints on the walls, the muted old Shiraz carpet beneath their feet and the rich memory of old cigars in the atmosphere."
The location of their meetings, which is the house of one of the members, is important as well.
It is in this setting that much of the story has taken place, and as characters roam the rooms they have flashbacks, and it reveals more of the story. The overall significance is the affect it has on the characters.

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Straub, Peter. Ghost story. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1979. Print.