Both the writers use conflict to create suspense, for example in the signalman, the narrator and the signalman seem to show a sense of conflict.
For example the narrator presence, seems to astonish the signalman. The signalman says” before he stirred I was near enough to him to have touched him, not even then removing his eyes from mine, he stepped back one step and lifted his hand” the signalman is implying that he is uncomfortable with the narrator. Even the narrator notices the weird behaviour that is displayed by the signalman he says, “You look at me, I said forcing a smile, as if you dread me”. They do not understand each other at this moment; the both think that each other are ghosts. The signalman says, “I was doubtful, he returned, whether I had seen you before, where? He pointed at the red light he looked at there? I said”. The signalman was implying that he had seen the narrator, under the red light that was the same place which he also said he had seen the ghost. The narrator also believes the signalman is a ghost he says, “A monstrous thought came into my mind as I perused the fixed eyes saturnine face, that this was a spirit not a man” the narrator has a thought and is doubtful if the narrator is a man or a spirit.
In the monkeys paw there is also a sense of conflict. When Mr white gets beaten by his son in a game of chess, his uses other excuses to release his frustration he says, “That’s the worst of living so far out balled Mr white with sudden and unlooked-for violence of all beastly, slushy, out of the way places to live in, this worst. Paths a bog, and the roads a torrent I don’t want people are thinking about I suppose because only two houses in the road are let they think it doesn’t matter”. The is also a sense of conflict when Mrs white wises her son back to life, but Mr white knows that this is bad news and he tries to stop it "What's that?" cried the old woman, starting up. A rat, said the old man, in shaking tones--"a rat. It passed me on the stairs. His wife sat up in bed listening. A loud knock resounded through the house. It's Herbert!" she screamed. "It's Herbert!" She ran to the door, but her husband was before her, and catching her by the arm, held her tightly. What are you going to do?" he whispered hoarsely. It's my boy; it's Herbert!" she cried, struggling mechanically. "I forgot it was two miles away. What are you holding me for? Let go. I must open the door. For God's sake, don't let it in," cried the old man trembling. You're afraid of your own son," she cried, struggling. "Let me go. I'm coming, Herbert; I'm coming." There was another knock, and another. The old woman with a sudden wrench broke free and ran from the room. Her husband followed to the landing, and called after her appealingly as she hurried downstairs. He heard the chain rattle back and the bottom bolt drawn slowly and stiffly from the socket. Then the old woman's voice, strained and panting. The bolt," she cried loudly. "Come down. I can't reach it." But her husband was on his hands and knees groping wildly on the floor in search of the paw. If he could only find it before the thing outside got in. A perfect fusillade of knocks reverberated through the house, and he heard the scraping of a chair as his wife put it down in the passage against the door” this shows the amount of conflict which is displayed in this book.
Both these stories are both set in damp and lonesome areas, in the signalman for example the narrator Talks about the area and situation around him he says “This was a lonesome post to occupy” this was the narrator explaining the signalman’s occupation. In the monkeys paw by WW.Jacobs Mr White explains his environment, after he bitterly lost a chess match to his son he says “That's the worst of living so far out," bawled Mr. White, with sudden and unlooked-for violence; "of all the beastly, slushy, out-of-the-way places to live in, this is the worst. Pathway's a bog, and the road's a torrent. I don't know what people are thinking about. I suppose because only two houses on the road are let, they think it doesn't matter.” He is angry and talks out against his situation.
The characters do and say their things to create little suspense for example Mr White says “It moved, he cried, with a glance of disgust at the object as it lay on the floor. As I wished it twisted in my hands like a snake." This was what happened when Mr White wish for 200 hundred pound, this quote made the story more interesting because everyone wanted to see what happens and how they get their 200 hundred pounds.
In The signal man the signalman characters credibility is in doubt when he clams that he has spotted a ghost he says “ If I telegraph Danger, on either side of me, or on both, I can give no reason for it," he went on, wiping the palms of his hands. "I should get into trouble, and do no good. They would think I was mad. This is the way it would work,--Message: 'Danger! Take care!' Answer: 'What Danger? Where?' Message: 'Don't know. But, for God's sake, take care!' They would displace me. What else could they do?” this seems weird to the narrator who doesn’t believe the signalman but to want to alert someone but doesn’t want to tell anyone important, because he knows they will think he is mad.
Both theses stories create suspense, this makes the story more interesting. They use many styles to create suspense and these styles work. And overall suspense is created.
