How effective do you find

The signalman, in the same moment, continues to talk, he seems to have opened up a little bit, the signalman seems to welcome the narrator and “let his guard down” and starts to tell a story. He starts off by setting the scene well “one moonlight night” always giving a supernatural feel, and a sense of morbidity to it. He continues to use “some one else” as the thing that he saw waving, giving a mysterious feel to it, and with the reader not knowing at all what that thing is. Dickens utilizes this technique well, and this is effective because it hides the identity of the being and makes it more appealing, without losing its “edge”, making the reader want to read on. Dickens then builds up the tension, through the words of the signalman. During a little passage, the signalman seems to repeat what the narrator had said earlier to him, in the exact same way, repeating the same words, “Halloa! Below there!” linking the words with the mysterious unknown being. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come. We still do not know, but with this technique of telling us the story stage by stage, Dickens makes the mystery intensify, being effective because the reader wants to read on and gets hooked to the bizarre plot that has arisen. Then, the story takes a turn towards the supernatural side, “I ran towards it… then it was gone,” and it creates a more supernatural side to the story, assign to its effectiveness as a ghost story ,and the readers are now more aware that perhaps this unknown being is a spectre, and to add to this sinister and rather quite frightening atmosphere, he describes with detail, the surroundings of the area where the signalman saw the being, “wet stains, stealing down the walls and trickling through the arch…(for I had mortal abhorrence of the place upon me).” The mystery is intensified further and this description is effective because it puts the reader in the position of the signalman and sends shivers through their spines. The fact that he used the word “mortal” reminds us that he is mortal, and that perhaps the “life threatening” thing he is dealing with is immortal. The narrator then tries comforting the signalman, but the fear is still there. The narrator is uneasy however tries to rationalize, there is fear but resistance, and the argument towards this “supernatural being” is led by science. The intelligent and effective technique that Dickens uses, and has used constantly before, is that technique for the narrations to reflect our reactions, thoughts and questions. The narrator is sceptical on the idea of ghosts and spectres. It is as thought the signalman believes in ghosts, but the narrator is more rational, and “needs to be converted”, there is a dynamic difference between the two. The narrator then continues his words of fear but resistance “disagreeable shudder” by once again coming up with a rational idea, calling it a “remarkable coincidence”, this is what the readers are thinking/believing too, first an argument in science and now saying it was a coincidence, the narrator maintains scepticism. Dickens then uses a good technique for the reader to pay attention, perhaps to maintain interest or to signify that an important moment was about to occur, saying, “He again begged to remark that he had not finished.” He drops the tension, but then with immense speed, faster than normal builds it up again, he has another story to tell, another one just like the one before. He says “it leaned against the shaft of the light, with both hands before the face” one still has not got a clear description of what the being is, it is still unmasked making it the more frightening because it is an unknown entity, and perhaps when described may lose the scariness factor, a clever technique used by Dickens. However then the narrator asks the signalman a couple of questions but instead the signalman “touched me (narrator) on the arm with his forefinger twice or thrice.” The fact that he does not say anything adds to the ghastliness of the story, and gives us the idea that perhaps the signalman himself is a supernatural being, adding to the mystery of the ghost story. Dickens then uses a very clever technique in the name of ambiguity, “the train came out of the tunnel, I noticed, at a carriage window on my side, what looked like confusion of hands and heads,” Dickens makes the signalman not rational, he adds a sense of ambiguity to it, the way he does is this is due to his sheer knowledge of story writing, instead of being very descriptive of the train he builds up tension due to him not continuing about passengers and the train, but adds a mysterious feel to the train, making the reader think and make up a train with their own imagination and thus adding slight ambiguity. Straight after the train does not seem to stop when the brakes are put on, due to the signalman seeing a person on the tracks, this causes confusion, because we do not know what caused this, all we know is about the train, this builds tension, and the technique is clever. The fact that due to this a “beautiful young lady” was killed seems to make the story all the more worse and grisly, and although with good connotations, it makes it worse because the girl who died was young and beautiful, making it more tragic.

I will now talk about the second moment, being on page 8, the day the signalman dies. The evening starts off very bright “it was a lovely evening”, Dickens creates a cheerful atmosphere. The narrator then sees a man “with his left sleeve across his eyes, passionately waving his right arm,” just as the signalman had showed to him earlier on how the entity was waving to the signalman earlier. Dickens makes the story more mystifying and exciting, and the reader is wondering why is the person using the same gestures? Is it all coincidence? Dickens then makes the tension build up dramatically, and the pace quickens. One can sense that something is not right, but with limited knowledge, we do not know what, and due to this limited knowledge, the reader is kept interested and gripped to the story. Suddenly it is then revealed that the signalman is dead, it comes as a shock to the narrator, as it does to the reader. The narrator is in the same boat as the reader throughout the short story, with limited knowledge too, and this is told through the narrator’s reactions when he asks “how did this happen?” just as the reader would be asking in the same way. However, the big shock and twist in this story is exposed when the description of the signalman’s death is told in detail, the words exclaimed by the driver controlling the train that “cut him (signalman) down”, he said “below there! Look out! Look out! For God’s sake, clear the way!” These words were those that the signalman had feared all along, they were the words that the narrator had used to catch the attention of the signalman, and they were the words the signalman had warned about. Not only this but the gesticulations made by the driver, the same that the person who called the narrator had done before, and the same that the signalman had told to the narrator about. This twist causes sends a feeling of shock to the readers, and gives a mixed feeling, a feeling of sorrow for the signalman, a feeling of astonishment and a feeling of fear. Dickens creates and sustains the atmosphere well, as he does the mystery too.

Charles Dickens has created this short story by building tension and climax from the start to the end - One of his many ways of building tension is through his descriptive passages and dark-toned speech of the Signalman - and occasionally the narrator. There is a very powerful opening as the Narrator shouts "Halloa! Below there!" which are key words throughout this chilling short story. The exclamation marks at once produces an alarming suspense and raises tension as the reader cannot acknowledge which character speaks. This introduction leaves the reader with suspicious thoughts concerning both characters as they have released minimal information about each other. It seems as though the Signalman had many warnings of the forth-coming events. The words "Halloa! Below there!" had been from the train driver trying to warn the Signalman to get out of the way. The spectres actions had been because after the crash the train driver had been in the same position. Gesticulating of the arms was supposed to mean "Get out of the way!" Charles Dickens' subtle pre-cognition of the signalman ends in a climax in which the clues have been given in a discreet but clear manner. Dickens also uses the literary devices such as repetition, similes and intense description to create the imagery that we are in a very frightening and lonely place, whenever we are with the Signalman. Dickens indeed uses many of the essential techniques commonly used in short story writing, starting with only using the bare minimum of important characters. The very name of the story, 'The Signalman' is as explicit in its irony, as it is effective in its purpose, of creating an awe of mystery around the story. It cruelly but entertainingly, creates the false perception of the story's name being based around the central character of the Signalman, when in fact, I believe, it is in relation to the ghostly apparition, which gives 'Signals' to the haunted signalman in his secluded box. At the end of the story the reader has become sympathetic towards the signalman after going through a range of feelings from mysteriousness to trustworthiness.  

Relationship between characters

The abnormality of the Signal man seems to decrease after every visit that the Narrator attends, although the climax increases and more incomplete information is given, making the reader eager to read the next visit

Answer q’s in conclusion