Matthew Salter The Signalman How does Dickens creates suspense in "The Signalman" In the following essay I will discuss 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. It is set in a deep cutting adjacent to a tunnel with a railway running through.Suspense is created through supernatural, horror and ambiguity. A good suspense story should have all of these. I will explore these qualities which make up a good suspense story.The story opens with the quote "Halloa! Below there" This short, but effective line becomes very decisive as the story unfolds. We don´t know who´s speaking and so creates tension already. The man he is shouting to below looks round to face the tunnel "Looked down the line". Any normal person would look upwards in response to this. Again Dickens is creating the unexplainable which builds up the tension and suspense.At this time we don´t know who either of the men is. We know it is a ghost story so which one if any is the ghost. He is making you ask yourself questions which create suspense. You are already hooked and trying to figure out who is the ghost. He then goes on to describe the man below "There was something remarkable in his manner of doing so". This is evidence for the argument that he is possibly the ghost because of his weird actions. The actions create mystery which is effective to create the overall suspense. Also you still haven´t had any kind of a physical description of the signalman so at this time you don´t even know if he´s human or not and you can´t just make an assumption, you have to read
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