I will be examining the settings that the writers have chosen for their stories in 'The Signalman', 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' and 'The Red Room'. I will be considering the effects that each writer has created and how they contribute to the atmosphere

The ending of 'The Red Room' is also similar to the one of 'The signalman' as it also does not give a real resolution. The reader does not actually find out what is in that room all the writer tells us is that it was the mans fear.

On the other hand the ending of 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' does give the reader its answers. The reader finds out who the man with the twisted lip was and where the man had disappeared. It is a nice and neat ending, just like a typical detective story. This story was written because the writer felt that every criminal should get its punishment and at that time jack the ripper was on the loose killing innocent people and getting away with it. So the writer wrote stories that had nice and neat endings where the criminal was punished and the victims given justice.

The setting in 'The Signalman' is quite isolated because it was difficult for the narrator to even find a path that led down to where the signalman was standing. ' The cutting was extremely deep, and unusually precipitate'. This shows how lonely the signalman is and that he was probably going insane because of his loneliness.

The writer has chosen to set the story 'The Signalman' at a railway because in Victorian times trains were a brand new thing, so the technology was not as good as today which meant that there were a lot of train accidents and they were quite normal.

The setting in 'The Red Room' is much more old fashioned. It is set in an old castle and there are three very old people looking after the place. We know that the castle is old because it says; "...deep toned, old fashioned furniture..." This makes the place much more spooky because the narrator knows that the furniture and building was made by people who are now dead, this reminds the reader of ghosts.

The setting in 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' is set in later Victorian times; this was much later than the other two stories and so things had changed quite a lot. We can tell that it is Victorian times because the narrator says; "a handsome cab..." we also know this because of the long journey through the village. This story is about a drug addict and drug addiction was a normal thing in Victorian times as it is now, but it was best hidden. The drug den was legal and in those times more people had drugs commonly.

One of the similarities between the three stories is that the writer uses the narrator to hold back detail. The story is told as it unfolds. The narrator knows no more than the reader in the stories. For example in the story 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' when the narrator first goes down to the den to find the missing man a man from behind says "walk past me and then look back at me".

The narrator did not know who this man was and neither did the reader. But as the narrator finds out where the voice came from so does the reader, because the details are narrated and the reader finds out the facts when the narrator does.

One of the advantages of having the narrator as the main character (as in all three stories) is that emotions and reactions of the main character do not have to be described because they are told directly by the narrator. For example; in the story 'The Red Room' it says, "I half suspected the old people..." The readers did not have to work this out themselves; the narrator said directly that he did not believe them.

The second similarity between all three stories is that they all refer to the colour red somewhere in the story. For example; in 'The Signalman' it says "red light near the tunnel..." in the story 'The Red Room' it is used in the title. And in 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' it says "...red circles of light...".

In all three of the stories the colour red is used to represent danger. The colour red is a 'connotation' - this is when a particular word or phrase is used to symbolize something. The writers have also used this colour to make us think of what is associated to it in our culture and to create an atmosphere.

One of the similarities between 'The Signalman' and 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' is that they both use short sentences and a fastening of the pace to create tension. For example; one of the conversations in 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' goes like this; "you think that he is dead?" " I do". "Murdered?" "I don't say that perhaps". This was used to create tension and get the reader more interested and wanting to read on.

One of the examples of this from 'The Signalman' are; "that mistake?" "No. That someone else". "Who is it?" "I don't know". "Like me?" These short punchy sentences fasten the pace of the story and help to create an atmosphere.

One other similarity between 'The Signalman' and 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' is that they both use pauses to create tension. For example; in 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' the writer makes the narrator and the reader wait until Holmes finally tells Watson why he was at the den. This creates a lot of suspense as the reader continues to wait and become more anxious to find out what was going on.

The example of this in 'The Signalman' is; it says; "...after a pause..." this also keeps the reader in suspense and cause tension. The writer to make the reader think why the signalman was acting so weird, which also keeps the reader in suspense used this.

One of the similarities between 'The Signalman' and 'The Red Room' is that they both have chosen to set the stories in an isolated place. The red room is isolated because the direction to get there are difficult which would mean that it would be hard to get back out, this would make the reader feel as if the narrator is trapped.

Similarly in 'The Signalman' you can see the signalman's hut but it is difficult to get there and back. Just like the red room. By making the setting of the story isolated the writer is trying to make a spooky atmosphere because if someone is alone they would be much more scared.

Another similarity between 'The Signalman' and 'The Red Room' is that in the 'The Signalman' at the beginning the signalman does not answer when the narrator is calling him. Similarly in 'The Red Room' the narrator is calling the old women and she does not answer him. By doing this, the writer makes these characters really mysterious and makes the reader question what is wrong with the people.

One other similarity between 'The Signalman' and the 'The Red Room' is that they both use personification for effect. For example in 'The Signalman' it says; " an Angry sunset..." this also gives the reader an image in their head of how the sunset will be looking like. An example of personification in 'The Red Room' is; "black shadows sprang back..." this is making the reader imagine a shadow springing back and actually being alive.

Another technique that has been used in both 'The Signalman' and 'The Red Room' for effectiveness is imagery. The example of this from 'The Signalman' is; "the wet stains stealing down the walls..." this gives an image of clean walls with stains trickling down them. An example of imagery from 'The Red Room' is; " the shutting of an eye..." this gives the reader an image of an eye closing. This is used to describe the candle shutting and by comparing it to an eye it makes it very easy for the reader to imagine what is happening.

A similarity between 'The Red Room' and 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' is that they both use shadows to make the atmosphere spookier. For example in 'The Red Room' it says; "A monstrous shadow of him." By using this to describe the old mans shadow he is making the reader think that the man is almost dead but his shadow is showing the real truth about him. The example of this in 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' is; " out of the black shadows there glimmered..." The writer uses this to make the reader think that there is something good in the darkness.

Another similarity between 'The Red Room' and 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' is that they both use similes for effect. An example of this in 'The Red Room' is; "...like a ragged storm-cloud..." The example of this in 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' is; "...like the mouth of a cave..." These have been used to give the reader an image of what the writer is trying to describe and by comparing it to another object this is made easier for the reader to imagine.