Using the first person narrative in both stories makes the readers see through the narrators’ eyes therefore making the stories more believable and frightening.
The narrators are not named in either of the stories but in ‘The Red Room’ the narrator is described in more detail, he is described as the ‘28 year old young man’. He is the only youthful character in the story, all the other characters seem to blend in with the castle; they are old and grotesque. They seem to add to the atmosphere of fear and the supernatural, they also seem to symbolise the castle itself; they are both mysterious and rather threatening.
In ‘The Signalman’ there are only two characters who both play major roles in the unravelling of the story. The Signalman himself is physically described to fit in with his grim surroundings, he seems to be part of the gloominess of the railway cutting, All what is revealed other than his appearance is his job.
No names are revealed in either of the stories, I think that this creates a distance between the readers and the characters as there is no need for the readers to be familiar with them because these are both short stories. Instead, the writers in both stories concentrate on the events and their description rather than the characters.
As both stories were written such a long time a go, their language is very much part of their era. Readers in the present will find the language quite unfamiliar in places, such as in ‘The Red Room’, “said I” would in modern english idiom be “I said”. However, the language takes the reader back to the time when people believed in hauntings and this belief in superstition in turn helps to build an atmosphere of tension. Also the repetition of the words of “the man with the withered arm’s” warning, “It’s your own choosing” is a warning that adds a ominious feeling to the atmosphere. There is also a repetition of the the phrase “this night of all nights” which implies that something malevolent is expected to happen, rather like an omen
In ‘The Red Room’, the author only reveals what is in the room at the end of the story, this not only raises suspense and tension, but also sustains a certain degree of curiosity to the end, which makes the story more interesting for the reader.
Both stories take place over short periods of time. In ‘The Red Room’ the story takes place over one night. It is set in a castle which is a typical gothic setting for a scary story set in this era. This emphasises fear from the start. The detailed description of the grotesqueness of the rooms and halls of the castle raises the readers’ anxiety and curiosity. It is set during the night, which is the right background for such a creepy story; nighttime is always more threatening than day. This builds up an expectation that something awful will happen in the Red Room.
In ‘The Signalman’ the story takes place over three nights. The dark setting, deep in a railway cutting which ‘admits little light’ and where the ground ‘vibrates and pulsates’ whenever a train comes by, sets up a suitable atmosphere for the supernatural visitations which haunt the Signalman. This setting emphasises the solitude and uneasiness, making it ideal for the mysterious and dreadful events that follow. This helps prepare the reader for the catastrophe with which the story ends.
A final similarity is how neither story ends with a proper scientific explanation, therefore neither of the narrators can use science as ‘the answer’ because what has happened through out the two stories has no scientific explanation. In my opinion, this leaves the readers with an uneasy feeling about the supernatural and the chaos it may cause. A fear of the supernatural lives deep inside some people, and not so deep in others. But stories such as these can cause even the most rational of people to wonder if there are things in the world which can not and should not be explained.
