The setting and the weather are key factors in creating the senses of tension, fear and suspense. For example in “The Signalman” the weather is used to make matters unclear and leave a sense or emotion upon the reader, “I had shaded my eyes with my hand before I saw him.” This suggests there is something amiss gently leading the reader in a sense of confusion. “Angry sun” is again using the weather to demonstrate the mood, however, this time the mood is one of anger. In “The Crowd” weather is also used, in much the same way, to help create or direct a desired affect on the reader. “The moon cast a shadow from his nose out upon his cheek to tell the time of breathing or not breathing any more ever.” Here Bradbury starts by describing a clear night with bright moon in it, before moving on to strange scene under the moon. Night is used here to create a sense fear, as darkness is generally scarier then light as one of your senses, sight, is useless against the darkness of night. This, in the story, makes it edgy and suspensefully chilling for the reader. Another good quote using the weather in “The Crowd” is “He awoke. Sunlight, a hospital room, a hand taking my pulse.” Here fragmented speech is used adding to the perplexity already in the story. The word “Sunlight” is used to reassure the reader and bring a sense of safety and welfare. Setting is also used throughout both of the stories to create senses and stir emotion by giving detailed descriptions. In “The Signalman,” for example “gloomier” and “black” describe the entrance to the tunnel as a scary, unpleasant place that resembles an entrance to hell, especially as that is were the supernatural phenomenon in this story occurs and is sighted. Other descriptions in this text used to help create a sense of fear and despair are the textures of objects. For example “dripping wet” and “jagged stone” are used. The daunting ness of an object in question is also used, such as “great dungeon”. Colour and smell are used too along with abstract adjectives to create an ideas of the setting as lonely and not nice, “a gloomy, red light” and “deathly smell” with deathly being an abstract adjective. In “The Crowd”, at first setting is used to compare the normally of the surrounding area with the traumatic and rapid event of a car crash. The setting is as having “summer grass” and “lined pavement” it all seem quick peaceful and pleasant. A bit later on in the story, extra detail is given in describing the faces of the members of the crowd as the protagonist character clearly remembers them well. They are described with a “vast wrongness” definitely adding a sense of wonder and fear to the story.
In both of these short stories there are senses of fear and suspense, which were cleverly written in the stories by Dickens and Bradbury. In “The Signalman” these sources of fear and suspense are raised by the loneliness and coldness of the two main characters, the narrator and the signalman. Where they don’t fully know or really understand one another they are slightly fearful of each other, especially the signalman towards the narrator, however we, the readers, don’t know why at this point in the story. We can see that neither character genuinely trusts the other, however the narrator is intrigued into the strange manners of the signalman, which also trigger suspense in the story. Throughout reading the story more and more is revealed about the signalman, and how he believes he is being haunted and at the same time, warned about an accident but he is unable to say how. We are inclined to believe what the signalman reveals and says as the two characters, one being the narrator and thus we the readers, grow friendly implying a sense a trust in the friendship. Dickens, who didn’t like trains or industrialization, both modern and growing at this time of rapid cultural change, plays on the fears of the future mixed with supernatural forces, and from these he is able to introduce senses of fear and suspense, created from the already existing fears of modernization. In “the Crowd” the senses of fear and suspense are raised in similar ways. For example both of these stories play on the supernatural, a misunderstood force in this world, and a strong force of fear. Both also use the fear of modernization, however in different contexts, times and social cultural backgrounds. In “The Crowd,” Bradbury uses a fast pace and many metaphors, for example “ to create a sense of misunderstanding and confusion. The quick action start gets right into the suspense of the story, as does the start of “The Signalman”. In “The Crowd” the sense of fear and suspense is developed when the protagonist character talks to a “cab” driver, the word cab being used to demonstrate culture slang. The Cab driver tells Mr. Spallner about the speed the crowds gather around these accidents and how, often if the accident results in death it is the fault of the crowd rather than the initial accident. This intrigues Mr. Spallner about these crowds and pushes him to investigate these strange matters. He finds the crowd, quick terrifyingly to always be made up of the same people. This definitely heightens the senses of fear and suspense taking them to a new level.
Both of these thrilling stories have fantastic climaxes, which are marvelously built up to. In “The Signalman” a sense of security is introduced when it talks of what a “lovely evening” it was. It then continues to describe the evening’s weather reassuring the reader further. After that it tells us how something is wrong but keeps us waiting to know what piling on more suspense, as previously the reader has been led to wonder what the supernatural force in this story is, whether it’s the signalman, a ghost he sees or indeed if it the narrator who is a ghost. In this climax we are fearfully, magically and brilliantly drawn to the conclusion of how a ghost has led the signalman to his death on the railway line. In “The Crowd” Mr. Spallner searches for an answer and eventually is caught by the crowd he was searching in this great irony. We are led to believe he is in control of the situation, when suddenly the tides turn and he is left helpless. He once again recognizes people in the crowd as the move him with the intent of killing him. This climax led us to wonder about the crowd’s true nature, but is resolved in mystery as was a great interest at the time the story was written.
These two stories are full of irony. In “The Signalman” the very first line, said by the narrator, “Halloa! Below there!” is the warning given to the signalman by the driver wanted to move, however the signalman, entranced by the supernatural force fails to move and is killed. The story tells us how the signalman was a well-educated man who was good as his job and very careful to stay away from line but gets killed on the line. This is also very ironic and misleading. However the largest irony of this story is that the signalman saw a premonition of his own death on the line. In “The Crowd” the irony is that the very thing Mr. Spallner wanted to find found him. In both of these stories the characters see ghosts but die before they can prove their ideas causing a lot of fear to readers. However neither character really considers why they are seeing these ghosts and this leads to their deaths.
These stories are both very similar, playing on our fears of the supernatural and the misunderstood. Both talk of issues that plagued the time and culture in which they were written. Times of great change. Dickens in the Victorian fear of the modern and Bradbury in the twentieth century fascination with mystery.
By George Rose, L5G
