The interesting thing is the way in which Dickens is writing to make the story more interesting. He is writing about the sightings, describing the light and the circumstances in which the ghost appeared, and than when everyone is expecting the story to discover the truth, Dickens uses final twist with sudden death of the signalman. The story maintains a mystery at the end, and makes the readers think a lot about the details of the text.<<<< The signalman asking questions for example who is saying this? Whom are they speaking to? This immediately creates mystery as this will not be understood by the reader unless they read on the man he is shouting to below looks round to face the tunnel
"looked down the line" any normal person would of looked up in response to this again dickens is creating the unexplainable which builds up the tension and suspense.The tunnel also creates suspension, why did he look down there in the first place, in addition what could be down there, it is described as " barbarous, depressing and forbidding ". The smell and surroundings make him a little more reluctant to decend "Air of reluctance". At this time we don't know who either of the men are, Dickens is making you ask yourself questions which creates suspense. He then goes on to describe the man below " there was something remarkable in his manner of doing so" The actions create mystery which is effective to create the overall suspense. Also you still havent had any physical description of the signalman so you don't even know if he is human or not and you cannot just make an assumption, you have to read on. The scene is set with a deep cutting at twilight and because of the darkness the reader is concerned for the narrator, because you are unsure of the signalmans intensions, It makes you have the "don't go down there" feelings so tension builds up more and more as they get closer to each other.Just as he gets closer to the cutting a unknown vibration shakes the ground "vague vibration in the earth and air" he also uses a lot of effective adjectives like "violent pulsation" this activates the senses and takes the reader to the location this adds to the tension. This vibration is due to a train coming by, this sets the mood for supernatural happenings, the final bout of tension in this scene comes with the train, the train is a steam engine which would produce lots of smoke. Which is almost like a cut to the next scene. The cutting would be relatively dark, this darkness creates a suspended mood. It is also described as being "extremely deep and unusually precipitous" and solitary and dismal, it seems like the place is very isolated and cut off from the outside world this seems like a suitable place for super natural happenings. Dickens emphasises this by metaphorically stating it as a " Great dungeon" I feel that the beginning works very well this is due to the opening statement which leaves the reader pressured to read the whole story and find out what it means. The story ends in a twist in the form of the death of the signalman. For me this was unanticipated I felt that the spectre would turn out to be no more than a hoax however I felt that the ending works very well.In the final, paragraph the narrator thinks that he is now possessed and is destined for the same fate. He has come to this conclusion by realising that the spectre repeated his exact words " Halloa below there" which he had said to the signalman on his first visit. This works because the signalman has deceased but the spectre seems alive in the form of the narrator. There is a sense of mystery involved with the ending. This also invites the reader to make up there own mind about the fate of the narrator. Dickens deliberately leaves this up to the reader this is the final method of creating mystery. The story only ever takes place within the cutting. I think this is so non of the tension is lost, because of this reason the tension is well sustained through out. Again the signalman and narrator only ever meet at night "I will come at eleven" this keeps the tension due to the darkness.Charles Dickens knows what he is doing because he would lose the tension if they met on a sunny mid day. In addition the darkness impairs the signalmans vision, which could be possible reasons for his sightings. He cant be sure what is out there.
"looked down the line" any normal person would of looked up in response to this again dickens is creating the unexplainable which builds up the tension and suspense.The tunnel also creates suspension, why did he look down there in the first place, in addition what could be down there, it is described as " barbarous, depressing and forbidding ". The smell and surroundings make him a little more reluctant to decend "Air of reluctance". At this time we don't know who either of the men are, Dickens is making you ask yourself questions which creates suspense. He then goes on to describe the man below " there was something remarkable in his manner of doing so" The actions create mystery which is effective to create the overall suspense. Also you still havent had any physical description of the signalman so you don't even know if he is human or not and you cannot just make an assumption, you have to read on. The scene is set with a deep cutting at twilight and because of the darkness the reader is concerned for the narrator, because you are unsure of the signalmans intensions, It makes you have the "don't go down there" feelings so tension builds up more and more as they get closer to each other.Just as he gets closer to the cutting a unknown vibration shakes the ground "vague vibration in the earth and air" he also uses a lot of effective adjectives like "violent pulsation" this activates the senses and takes the reader to the location this adds to the tension. This vibration is due to a train coming by, this sets the mood for supernatural happenings, the final bout of tension in this scene comes with the train, the train is a steam engine which would produce lots of smoke. Which is almost like a cut to the next scene. The cutting would be relatively dark, this darkness creates a suspended mood. It is also described as being "extremely deep and unusually precipitous" and solitary and dismal, it seems like the place is very isolated and cut off from the outside world this seems like a suitable place for super natural happenings. Dickens emphasises this by metaphorically stating it as a " Great dungeon" I feel that the beginning works very well this is due to the opening statement which leaves the reader pressured to read the whole story and find out what it means. The story ends in a twist in the form of the death of the signalman. For me this was unanticipated I felt that the spectre would turn out to be no more than a hoax however I felt that the ending works very well.In the final, paragraph the narrator thinks that he is now possessed and is destined for the same fate. He has come to this conclusion by realising that the spectre repeated his exact words " Halloa below there" which he had said to the signalman on his first visit. This works because the signalman has deceased but the spectre seems alive in the form of the narrator. There is a sense of mystery involved with the ending. This also invites the reader to make up there own mind about the fate of the narrator. Dickens deliberately leaves this up to the reader this is the final method of creating mystery. The story only ever takes place within the cutting. I think this is so non of the tension is lost, because of this reason the tension is well sustained through out. Again the signalman and narrator only ever meet at night "I will come at eleven" this keeps the tension due to the darkness.Charles Dickens knows what he is doing because he would lose the tension if they met on a sunny mid day. In addition the darkness impairs the signalmans vision, which could be possible reasons for his sightings. He cant be sure what is out there.
