Charles Dickens used a short metaphoric phrase to produce fear in the next paragraph by describing the railway line as a ‘deep trench’. The reader would be reminded that the signalman did not have any visitors because of the isolated depressing location.
Tension is increased when ‘there came a vague vibration in the earth and air, quickly changing into a violent pulsation.’ This is important because the author describes something unnatural and dangerous. It immediately disrupts the signalman when he is about to answer the man. From the reader’s point of view, something violent is about to happen but does not. This is an example of building up a climax, which Dickens quickly calms down to help increase the tension. It also says ‘ and an oncoming rush that caused me to start back, as though it had force to draw me down’, which indicates that the mysterious object has the power to pull the narrator down. The effect this gives to us is a more dramatic, powerful paragraph that would intrigue us to find out what was happening. Charles Dickens deliberately does not tell us what this object is until the end. We then find out that it was a passing of a train. This paragraph makes it more obvious now where the story was set. Every paragraph further on, gives the reader more detail, which would help us create a picture in our head of what is going on.
The next paragraph describes the pathway down to the signal box as-‘ clammy stone that become oozier and wetter…’ and ‘ The cutting was extremely deep, and usually precipitate’, this highlights how cut-off and isolated the setting is so we now have an idea that the signalman is quite lonely. There is only one path leading to the signal box and yet it is hard to see, covered with weeds, which gives us an impression that it is hardly used-no-one visits him.
The writer leaves us in suspense and fear when the narrator describes the signalman’s features and the railroad. He describes him as a ‘dark sallow man’; this tells us that he has dark coloured hair and pale, aged skin we also begin to get the impression that he does not go out much. Down in the cutting there is not a lot of sun we can prove this due to the colour of his skin. A ‘dismal place’ tell us that it is dull and extremely depressing; this may persuade visitors to not come. The area around the signal box was described as a grave/dungeon because of the earthy smell and the cold winds. The gloomy red light is the signalman’s main priority, so it was described in detail. The wind hit his face as though something/someone was warning him to not interfere. ‘As though I had left the unnatural world ‘ tells us that the narrator is feeling uncomfortable and as though he is near a grave or a ghost. This builds up tension and fear because of the way Dickens describes the setting; it is the first hint that one of the characters is a ghost; the reader is unsure which one. Many senses are being described at this point; sight, smell, and touch are being used to make the fear more real. Tension occurs when the stranger stepped closer to the signalman, in reaction he stepped back and did not speak- this is an odd reaction between two human beings.
The reader would identify more tension when the signalman ‘directed a most curious look towards the red light’; once again, his behaviour seems quite odd. The reader wonders what is so important about the red light ‘as if something was missing’. The signalman probably associated the bell with the man because after he looked at the bell he had fixed attention on the stranger; the reader still does not know why. This makes the reader feel very anxious and curious to find out the reason. The author has done this to keep the reader interested to read on.
When the stranger asks if the light was part of his charge, the signalman replied angrily ‘ Don’t you know it is?’ This gives us the impression that there is an air of confusion between the two characters. The signalman believes that he has seen the stranger before but the stranger disagrees. The narrator describes the man as ‘saturnine’ and concludes that this was a spirit, not a man. ‘ There may have been infection in his mind’, tell us that he could be ill or mentally disturbed. ‘In my turn I stepped back’ gives the impression that the stranger is feeling cautious of the man.
The next paragraph begins to tell us more about the signalman. We notice a change in his personality. In the beginning, his attitude was shy and he seemed very peculiar, further on in the story he began to show the stranger and the reader that he is a decent man by the narrator saying ‘his manner cleared, like my own.’ ‘He replied to my remarks with readiness’, gives the reader the impression that he is polite and intelligent, so the reader wonders why he behaved so badly in the beginning.
The stranger realises that the signalman has a lot of responsibility. When the signalman says ‘ actual work-manual labour- he had next to none, to change that signal, to trim those lights, and to turn this iron handle now and then.’ We get the feeling that he has too much time and little to do. He taught himself a language, English-pronunciation, fractions decimals and a bit of algebra; he is clever. His job is his first priority, ‘listened for it with redoubled anxiety’. The effect of this would be that he is very punctual with his work; the reader would think that this man is very reliable and nothing should go wrong.
The signalman is lonely so he invites the narrator into his signal box for company where there was a warm fire and a desk. The reader knows that he is educated well above the standard of his duties; he attended lectures when he was younger and become a philosopher. Therefore, the reader is curious to know what made him drop his education and become a signalman. The stranger believes that there could be no other man he knew which would be best at this job, ‘Safest of man to be employed.’ Charles Dickens also uses the signalman’s past to increase curiosity and tension by saying ‘he had run wild, misused his opportunities, gone down and never raised again’, this tells us that he had the opportunity to become a great philosopher but he decided not to, he never tried to prove his education again. He has a murky past and this raises suspicion in our minds.
One other technique the writer uses to build up suspense is in the beginning of the paragraph ‘ in a word I should have set?’ is extremely important because it was the beginning of the main part of the short story. While they were speaking the signalman ‘twice broke off with fallen colour, and turned his face towards the little bell when it did not ring.’ This mysterious action makes the idea of the signalman being ‘ill’ more obvious. We begin to think that the signalman was so caught up with his job that he begins to hear and see things that are not there. Alternatively, it could be that the spectre is only revealed to the signalman. ‘ He opened the door of the hut…………..looked towards the red light near the mouth of the tunnel.’ This is a huge significance because now we get the idea that the bell and the light near the tunnel are linked causing the signalman to be disturbed. When the narrator rose to leave, the signalman confessed ‘I am troubled, sir, I am troubled.’ The stranger then asks politely ‘with what? What is your trouble?’ The signalman would not reply to this question directly, but he did say ‘if you ever make me another visit, I will try to tell you.’ The narrator replies ‘but I expressly intend to make you another visit.’ He thanked the stranger and guided him with a light to the path in which he came down on.
The signalman asks the stranger not to call out from the cutting, because he detests the phrase or may be they bring back horrible memories. He then asks the stranger ‘What made you shout ‘halloa below there’ tonight?’ The man replies by saying that he had cried out something to that effect. This made the signalman angry; he corrected the stranger by telling him that he said those very words. The repetition of those words raises suspicion because the signalman was very certain of them said by the stranger. He asks him why he had shouted those words as if they were restricted in some way. ‘They were conveyed you in a supernatural way?’ Yet, another mention of ghosts increases an air of excitement and tension. We read on to find out why. Shortly after ‘his manner seemed to make the place strike colder’. Telling the reader that the atmosphere makes him feel uncomfortable being ‘colder’ creates a ghostly, haunted place in our minds. The narrator uses his senses to create a scary moment.
Both meetings take place at night, which makes the setting sound quite spooky; not many people would normally go wondering down near a railroad at night especially by the ‘great tunnel’.
At the second meeting, the signalman begins to open up and tells the stranger what troubles him. The fact that the signalman had mistaken the stranger for someone else confused him, which was why he was very uptight in the first meeting. The stranger asks, if the man he was mistaken for, looked like him, but the only description he had of this mysterious figure was ‘The left arm is across the face, and the right arm is waved, -violently waved.’ shouting ‘for god sake clear the way.’ This is a tense point in the story because the ghost’s identity was not described fully. After then the signalman ran inside and telegraphed in both directions if anything was wrong, they both replied that everything was fine. When the signalman explained that both ways were clear on the railroad, he also thought nothing of the spectre. At this point the stranger was feeling uncomfortable ‘Resisting the slow touch of a frozen finger tracing out my spine,’ gives us another piece of evidence of ghosts. ‘Deception of his sense of sight,’ tells us that the stranger doesn’t believe him and that ‘figures, originating in decease of the delicate nerves that minister to the functions of the eye.’ Also tells us that he thinks the signalman is ‘mentally ill.’ Then strangely ‘Within six hours after the appearance, the memorable accident on this line happened,’ The stranger heard this and immediately ‘A disagreeable shudder crept over me but I did my best against it,’ tells us that he still thinks the signalman is lying but he can’t help feeling scared;’ ‘this is a remarkable coincidence.’
He then continued with his story and explained that the first spectre happened a year ago. After six months had passed, he noticed the mysterious figure standing by the red light again. The stranger asked if it cried out or waved its arm, and the signalman replied ‘ No. It leaned against the shaft of the light, with both hands before his face.’ Despite this, the signalman ignored it and sat down to ‘collect his thoughts,’ telling us that he also believes that he is hallucinating. He touched the strangers arm as if he needed support and said, ‘That very day, as a train came `out of the tunnel, I noticed, at a carriage window………..something waved.’ The signalman said that he shouted to the driver to stop, but the train drifted past a few more yards. A beautiful woman had died and was brought into his signal box to be laid down. ‘True. Sir, True,’ he tried to persuade the stranger to believe him. ‘Now, sir mark this, and judge how my mind is troubled,’ puts the point across to the reader that he is trying to prove the stranger wrong and that he isn’t mentally ill. The spectre had came back a week before standing at the danger-light, shouting;’ For god sake clear the way.’ The signalman has no rest from the spectre ‘It calls me, for many minutes together,’ we get the feeling that the spectre has taken over his life. In the following sentence the stranger tries to tell him that he is wrong by asking him if the bell rung the day before, whilst he was there. The stranger knew that it didn’t yet the signalman still believed that it did, twice. Dickens described the signalman showing that he was getting more agitated by writing ‘he was now sweating and speaking in a stern voice.’ At this point, the narrator would like to take the signalman to the doctor because he believes he is suffering a mental illness. Although, he can’t because he knows that no-one would believe him. Through the time they had met, they had also built a trust friendship The narrator knows that this man is the best at his job, so he didn’t want to take him to the doctors because they might say that he is mentally unfit to carry on with the duties of a signalman. It might result with him losing his job.
The narrator wiped drops of sweat from his forehead, which tells the reader that he is scared and suspicious himself. He begins to feel sorry for him. The narrator is concerned about the mans heath and security, we think ‘is he mad or are the ghosts real?’ The conversation between them was spoken in short sharp sentences creating an intimate discussion that mixed up a lot of tension. The signalman seems relieved to be able to tell someone of his problems, the reader would want to find out if the stranger could do anything to help him.
Not being able to help he leaves and tells the signalman, he would try and ‘meet him again tomorrow.’
Tension is relieved when ‘ the next morning was a lovely evening’ which gives the impression that it will be a positive day so the readers will not be prepared to be startled.
Tension is increased when the man is on a walk and looks down from where he first saw the signalman. To his amazement ‘I saw the appearance of a man, with his left sleeve across his face,’ this creates the tension to rebuild itself. He panicked ‘ I descended the notched path with all the speed I could make;’ It is a shock to the reader that the signalman was killed but not so much to the narrator. When he found out about the accident, the stranger didn’t seem that concerned. The train driver told the stranger the signalman stood at the entrance to the tunnel. So, the driver shouted at the signalman to move. ‘ Below there look out! Look out! For god sake clear the way!’ We then know that the signalman was telling the truth. The train driver, in addition told the stranger ‘I put my arm before my eyes not to see, and waved my arm to the last: but it was no use.’ They were the exact actions the spectre made while he was standing at the mouth of the tunnel. This creates an air of mystery because if the signalman heard the words and saw his hand gestures, then he would have moved, surely. Although he also could of frozen and cut-off from everything around him because he had heard the words that haunted him. In another sense if the signalman knew his job as well as the narrator, thought then we would of expected him to move when the train was approaching him.
We can begin to think that the signalman was under too much pressure and that maybe he blamed himself for all of the accidents. He could not help to prevent these tragedies so he committed suicide to help stop the events repeating.
The story had a depressing, tense mood, but most of all with an interesting atmosphere. It is depressing because it is about death, but it’s interesting because it includes ghosts and a roller coaster of events containing suspense and fear. It is a lot more interesting for the story to contain only two main characters (not including the spectre) because there is more time to get to know the characters better and to relate to how they feel. The gloomy, dark, dismal setting establishes the tone.
The story works well as a ghost and mystery story because they generally contain a lot of tension and twists, this one has. The narrator makes the ghost seem real and believable the story is not overdone with supernatural events, images and effects. Charles Dickens also keeps us hanging on to what we have gathered; he intrigues us to read on to explore the end. The beginning was slightly confusing but pulled together at the end.
We can therefore see that Charles Dickens created suspense and fear by using many clever techniques such as describing the setting as scary as possible, providing the characters with different personalities etc. I think that the signalman is a good story because when a person begins to read it they would have no idea that it would end the way it did. Charles Dickens provided the readers with an interesting story line, full of suspense and fear, containing Charles Dickens story and the story of the signalman.