In the following piece I will describe how Dickens creates suspense in "The Signalman" by exploring the settings and the characters. The novel was written by Charles Dickens in the 19th century, and is set in a deep cutting adjacent to a tunnel with a railway running through. Suspense is created through supernatural, horror and ambiguity. Dickens’ ‘The Signalman’ has all of these factors, which combine together excellently for a thrilling suspense story. The novel opens with the quote "Halloa! Below there!" This short, but effective line becomes very decisive as the story unfolds. We don’t know who is speaking and so it already creates a suspicion, which is initially adding tension. The man he is shouting at below "Looked down the line". In most circumstances, any person would look upwards in response to this. Dickens has initially created the unexplainable which builds up the tension and suspense further. At this time we don’t know who the men are. What Dickens’ is attempting to do is to make you curious, to make you think as the plot unfolds which adds suspense. Dickens then goes on to describe the man below "There was something remarkable in his manner of doing so". Once the reader has figured this novel contains a ghostly theme, Dickens lets the reader assume that he is possibly the ghost because of his weird actions. The actions create mystery which is effective to create the overall suspense. Also, Dickens hasn’t made any kind of a physical description of the signalman, so at this time the reader does not even know if he is human or not and rather than making a rash decision the reader is forced to read on to find out more about the two characters.
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