Comparison of pre-twentieth and twentieth century prose - "the Signalman" and "the darkness out there".
Wide reading assessment
Comparison of pre-twentieth and twentieth century prose
The two stories, "the Signalman" and "the darkness out there" are two short stories which are similar in some ways and different in others. They are similar in that they are both about a horrific incident involving death and have unexpected endings but the authors' intentions and background also create great differences between the two stories. Although both the authors' build up suspense and tension in their stories they do it in different ways. The Victorians around the time of Dickens (the author of "the Signalman") were fascinated by the ghost/supernatural stories following the success of the "Gothic" novels like Dracula and Frankenstein. Dickens wrote "The Signalman" in a style which suited that audience. Penelope Lively on the other hand wrote a psychological story exploring how people's behaviour is affected by their past. This is more appropriate for the late twentieth century audience
In "the Darkness out there", Penelope Lively wrote the story in such a way that it built the tension up slowly over time. Following her usual style of making the main characters seems to be normal, but turning out to be anything but normal (in the case of Mrs Rutter). Mrs Rutter is described as a "creamy", "cottage loaf of a woman" which sounds very normal but Lively hints that all is not as it seems in the description of her eyes. They are described as being as "quick as mice" as they "snapped and darted". This makes her seem shifty and untrustworthy. Kerry seems to be the only one of the children who takes note of this as he says, "I don't go much on her". This adds tension as Kerry can't seem to find a reason why he doesn't "go much on her" but he just seems to sense something. This creates tension and suspense.
But Kerry's description of Mrs Rutter isn't the only way tension is built up in the story. Even at the beginning of the story, Sandra's thoughts and fears are subtly adding tension. Her fears revolve around "packer's end" with its "clotted shifting depths", "nasty, creepy" trees adds suspense and tension. It adds in a creepy place but because of the wide range of fears which are mentioned, it adds suspense as the reader is not sure which one is true, or if there is something else which creepy about it. Sandra talks about her fears from youth, "witches and wolves and tigers", and her fears of now: the "blank-eyed helmeted heads, looking at you from among the branches" and the "two enormous blokes" thought to have raped a girl near there. The wide diversity of the fears leaves the reader guessing and keeps the ending a surprise.
Sandra's flaws, of judging people on appearance and her stereotypical views, hint at the surprising ending of this story though. For example her stereotypical view of old people (which is changed by the end of the story) is shown in the line:
"Old Mrs Rutter with her wonky leg would be ever so pleased to see them because they were really sweet, lots of the old people."
This viewpoint hints that there might be more to Mrs Rutter in the story then Sandra can imagine. This is hinted even more by the introduction of Kerry. Sandra ...
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Sandra's flaws, of judging people on appearance and her stereotypical views, hint at the surprising ending of this story though. For example her stereotypical view of old people (which is changed by the end of the story) is shown in the line:
"Old Mrs Rutter with her wonky leg would be ever so pleased to see them because they were really sweet, lots of the old people."
This viewpoint hints that there might be more to Mrs Rutter in the story then Sandra can imagine. This is hinted even more by the introduction of Kerry. Sandra introduces him by saying:
"Kerry Stevens that none of her lot reckoned much on, with his black licked-down hair and slitty eyes. Some people you only have to look at to know they're not up to much."
This shows that she judges people quickly on their appearance. She indicates with the last sentence that because of the way he looks that she doesn't think that she can trust him. Her view of him not being nice is instantly broken when he "took out an Aero bar, broke off a bit, offered it" this indicates that he is offering his friendship. This hints that if Sandra is not right about Kerry, then maybe her stereotypical view of Mrs Rutter isn't right either. This adds suspense and tension as the reader begins to think that Mrs Rutter is not all she seems.
Then when the pair of them reach Mrs Rutter's house she tells them the truth about "Packers End". The main thing which builds up tension here is that she shows no remorse, saying things like good riddance to bad rubbish. The story itself is horrific but the fact that even now she seems almost proud of what she did adds the most tension. The reader's angry reaction is also fuelled by Kerry's angry reaction, speaking "warily" as he starts to realise what Mrs Rutter has done. His reaction gradually gets worse as he was eventually frozen in horror as his "spoon clattered to the floor" until eventually he "shoved his chair back" using the word "shoved" to show his violent response. When Kerry leaves the house, the tension keeps mounting as he says, "I'm not going near that old bitch again" showing the extent of his anger. The tension in this part of the story is also built up through the irony of some of the things Mrs Rutter says, like: "I've got sympathy with young people" when she show through the telling of her story that she didn't have sympathy of the young German who she could have saved.
At the end of the story, Lively focuses all the tension towards trying to make a point; that the "darkness out there" is not really referring to a physical evil out there, in Packer's wood, but the "inescapable darkness" "in your head forever". Her views on judging people by what they look like change as she sees Kerry in a new light as "his anger eclipsed his acne, the patches of grease on his jeans, his lardy midriff". The ending is kept surprising throughout the story through Sandra's fear of physical things and the tension is not lost at the edge of the story as the reader leaves the story thinking about the things written in it.
The signalman written by Charles Dickens also builds up tension in the story. In the setting point of view Dickens works a lot more on creating a creepy setting, rather like the way Lively describes Packer's end. But rather then describing the rest of the setting in a favourable sense like lively does, Dickens just describes the cutting where the Signalman lives. It is described to have a "dripping wet, wall of jagged stone" either side of the cutting. A "Solitary and dismal", "barbarous, depressing" and "forbidding" place, described by the traveller that it made him feel "as if I had left the natural world". This "creepy" description of the cutting and tunnel adds the tension similar to the way that "Packer's end" adds tension in the darkness out there. This eerie and creepy setting adds suspense, as the reader will start to think that such a setting must have supernatural goings on, especially to the supernatural obsessed Victorians of the time.
The first introduction of the signalman makes him seem odd. He is created in the opposite way to Mrs Rutter who is thought to be normal and then turns out to be strange; the signalman on the other hand is described to be odd first and then turns out to be a bit more normal. The traveller describes him saying that there was "something remarkable in his manner" as he seems to look towards the tunnel every time the traveller shouted to him. In fact the traveller began to think that the signalman "was a spirit, not a man." The irony in that is that the signalman is scared of the traveller for exactly the same reason as he thinks that the traveller is a ghost. His fear shown as when the traveller got close to him, the signalman "steeped back one step, and lifted his hand." This adds tension as the confusion of who is to be feared most out of the two characters. When they see the fear in each others eyes the confusion is lifted as they both see that they are both as scared of each other. This creates more tension in the story.
The signalman's fear and anxiety which is discovered after the confusion, builds up more tension in this story. His obvious fear creates suspense as the reader is left guessing why the signalman was so scared. When he eventually tells the story of why he is so scared, the story of the ghost, the accidents and deaths, he tells it with the "utmost passion and vehemence" showing how much he believes in it. Not only is the story itself a tool to build up tension +suspense but also the travellers reaction adds more tension and suspense as he tries "resisting the slow touch of frozen finger tracing out his spine". This shows that he is obviously scared by the story but he refuses to admit it as he tries to reason away the story, saying it's just his imagination. The "coincidences" of the deaths following the warning by the spector creates more tension. The recent appearance of the spector adds tension and suspense, wondering whether there will be another accident or death, or whether the "spector" will not cause an accident. The way the story is told adds tension like Mrs Rutter's did in the darkness out there. The difference being though that tension was built up in the darkness out there by the lack of sympathy with Mrs Rutter's story, in the Signalman, the opposite is true. The almost panicked way in which the signalman tells the story is what adds tension.
The repetitive language and behaviour of the ghost adds more tension. The constant use of the line "Halloa! Below there!" alerts the reader and the signalman to what he thinks is supernatural activity. Starting the story with that line as well brings the reader straight into the story, adding instant tension and suspense. The "darkness out there" lively adds tension slowly making the story seem normal to start off with.
The surprising ending of the Signalman's death leaves the reader in the suspense. The ending is left open, as Dickens does not seem to guide the reader towards any particular conclusion. Dickens intention is that the reader makes up there own mind up. The "darkness out there" has a surprising ending too, but at the end of that, Lively tries to point you towards the conclusion of the darkness being inside people.
Both these stories add tension, both authors using different techniques to create tension and suspense. The signalman is a ghost story full with tension throughout which leaves the ending open to allow the readers to make up their own mind. The darkness out there on the other hand is a psychological thinking story, which built tension up slowly which pushed the reader towards a certain point of view. Out of the two I preferred the signalman because although the story itself is old, it is still relevant to me now and the supernatural aspect of the story appeals to me more the psychology.
