As the language and style of writing are nineteenth century many of the words used are long, complicated and old fashioned. People of my age would therefore find the story harder to follow without using a dictionary as the twentieth century language does not use words such as “Precipitate” meaning steep, “Saturnine” meaning looking gloomy and solitary which means lonely.
At the beginning of the story Charles Dickens describes the area of the cutting as being
“A dripping-wet wall of jagged stone excluding all view but a strip of sky” with an
“Earthy deadly smell”. The visitor also says that he has a feeling of
“Reluctance or compulsion” when going down the rough zig zagged path to see the Signalman.
By describing the setting in this way at the beginning of the story, Dickens makes us smell as well as feel that this cutting is dark, dismal, tomb-like and overall not a very nice place to be. We could also get the impression that this might be a ghost story as even though it is not set in the traditional place the descriptive words give us that feeling. This makes the reader wary of what is going to happen instead of feeling comfortable.
Charles Dickens wrote this story to get a crossed the fact that a signalman’s job in the 1860’s required a lot of concentration and responsibility. He describes the signalman as
“One the safest of men to be employed in that capacity.”
However the story also concentrates on the loneliness of the signalman’s work place and the effect, which this has on his mental well-being. This is one of the themes of the story and from the reaction of the signalman to the visitor, which is quoted below it, is clear that he is not used to company.
“Instead of looking up to where I stood on the top of the cutting nearly over his head he turned himself about and looked down the line”. We learn later that there is another reason for the signalman’s strange behaviour, which introduces another theme of the supernatural.
There are only two characters in “the Signalman” but under no means does this make the story boring, as they are both very different. The signalman himself is surprisingly well educated as we learn that
“He had taught himself a language” and
“Had also worked at fractions and decimals, and tried a little algebra.” He is trustworthy and suspicious of strangers, which as we find out later is because he has seen three appearances of a spectre but only two have ended up in an accident so far. He is also very lonely and driving himself away from the world which is making him a prey to gloom and the supernatural. In the end the signalman becomes so scared and worried about how to respond to the spectre he becomes careless about himself. On the other hand we can see that the visitor is polite when he says
“I looked down at him without pressing him too soon with a repetition of my idle question”. As he becomes to know the signalman more he suspects that he is heading for a mental breakdown.
Charles Dickens creates and sustains suspense right from the beginning of the story when on the first line the visitor calls out
“Halloa! Below there!” the reader is left wondering about the strange response of the signalman and how long before they find out the answer. As the visitor is about to leave for the first time the signalman asks him
“What made you cry “Halloa Below there!” tonight?” however the visitor does not get a clear answer. When the signalman asks the visitor to not say anything when he leaves both the reader and the visitor wonder why this is so important to the signalman, which creates tension as well as suspense. On the first visit the signalman also says that something is troubling him and says
“It is very difficult to impart sir. It is very very difficult to speak of. If ever you make me another visit I will try to tell you” this makes the reader keep on reading to find out what is troubling him and how the story develops. However the biggest area of suspense is made by the spectre and doesn’t end until the very last page.
In conclusion “The Signalman” by Charles Dickens is a story of supernatural and suspense. Throughout the whole story the reader is kept guessing, first about the signalman’s strange behaviour then about the victim after the third appearance of the spectre. I expected the signalman to find out why the spectre appeared for the third time and then to stop the accident from happening, however at the very end of the story the visitor as well as the reader finds out that the victim is actually the signalman himself which leaves the reader feeling stunned, sad and in a way spooked out. Being given little bits of information at a time like the present day TV soaps helps create this suspense.
