During this time a train passes beneath the two, being described as “a violent pulsation” and “a force causing to draw me down”. This event is suggested as the sensation of perhaps ‘falling to hell’, or being possessed by a supernatural existence.
After the visitor repeats his question, Dickens addresses the signalman’s body language and facial expressions as the visitor approaches him. The signalman is extremely cautious of the visitor, this is where Dickens first introduces the suspicion of a ghost in the story, without directly addressing it. Why is this random stranger so interested in a simple signalman? “A visitor was a rarity, I hoped? In me he merely saw a man who had been shut up within narrow limits all his life”. The two men have not even met, however already the visitor presumes he can tell what the signalman sees in him.
“There was something in the man that daunted me”. At this point, both men presume the other to be a ghost.
In the next paragraph, Dickens again uses supernatural activity, however this causes confusion, which creates tension to the reader.
The visitor is quoted saying, “That light was part of his charge? Was it not?” as the signalman is then quoted saying, in a low voice “Don’t you know it is?”. These confusing, supernatural effective phrases often occur throughout the story. The reader does not pick up on them, so they merely ignore it.
“The monstrous thought came into my mind as I perused the fixed eyes and the saturnine face that this was a spirit, not a man” This is the first point in the story Dickens directly uses the term “Spirit”. “I detected in his eyes some latent fear of me”. Both men are suspicious of the other, and both extremely confused, this rubs off on the reader, ultimate confusion, high tension.
As the two men are introduced, the signalman believes to have seen the visitor before. When the visitor asks him where, he immediately points towards the red light. The red light is significant to danger throughout the story. Whenever the red light is introduced, danger follows closely. The next 2 pages of the story are a description of the two men. However, the information we are told is not of they’re appearance, or of they’re nature, but of their background. Why are the men’s background’s relevant to the story? Perhaps this is a suggestion that the two men were meant to meet on these supernatural circumstances, or perhaps this is yet another tactic used by Dickens to confuse the reader. Here, Dickens again reminds us of the setting and atmosphere, pushing forwards words such as “grave”, “dark” and “fire”, reinforcing expectation and building up tension to a breaking point.
“It is very difficult to impart sir. It is very, very difficult to speak of. If even you make me another visit, I will try to tell you”. Here, there is repetition of difficulty for the signalman to explain his troubles to the visitor. Why is this so difficult for the signalman? Here, Dickens uses suspense in both the reader and the visitor’s perspective. This suspension creates enormous tension, as the information the reader possesses is immediately delayed.
On page 11, the signalman asks the visitor that when he returns, “Do NOT call out”.
The signalman questions why the visitor used the exact words “Halloa Below there!” and asks “You had no feeling that they were conveyed to you in any supernatural way”. The visitor simply replies no and then leaves. Why does the visitor have no question against the suggestion of supernatural activity?
