The Signalman

The atmosphere at the start of "The Signalman" is an eerie one. It is a deep, damp cutting with a dark tunnel described as 'barbarous, depressing' and with 'forbidding air' and that the little amount of light which got to this isolated signal post struck chill into the narrator.

The narrator is presented as inquisitive and practical man who when confronted with the signalman's problem tries to think of a rational reason for the signalman's sightings but soon finds out that there is no rational explanation. The signalman is a vigilant but troubled man who has been seeing a ghost, and every time he has seen it a person has died on his line. The signalman has had one more sighting and no one has died yet, this creates suspense and tension.

However in "The Red Room" the narrator is a man who only believes in what he can touch and see and he when the old people warn him about the red room he interprets a belief that they were trying to enhance the spiritual terrors of the house.

The pace of this story is very quick into the supernatural part as in the first line says, "it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me." And then soon after that the narrator set of to the red room, which is haunted.

Both stories are set in dark, gloomy places, enhanced with gothic description.

"The Red Room" is set in an old eerie house with old furniture and ornaments. The house has long, draughty subterranean passages with little lighting. In the room there were echoes and creaks. The thought that someone has died on the stairs leading up to the red room creates suspense and tension.

When the man experiences fear as the candles go out, plunging him into darkness. It creates tension and suspense because the reader doesn't know what is going to happen. The narrator tries to deal with this by being light hearted and tries to re-light the candles.

The fear and suspense is created by the darkness, stillness and silence of the red room and ultimately his inability to deal with fear.

Both these story stories create tension using detailed description of the settings, which greatly increases the overall affect of the story. "The Signalman" has a build up to the supernatural part whereas in "The Red Room" the reader is immediately thrown into the ghostly essence of the story. "The Red Room" is the most effective story for me because it is easy to relate to the fear of darkness and silence and the way a strong character when facing fear becomes hysterical.

Both stories deal with the supernatural and how a persons' mind can be affected by seeing spectres of something inexplicable. Both stories tell how the narrator succumbs to the fear this brings. In "The Signalman" panic is not obvious to the reader, as the signalman seems to try and work out what is happening. Whereas in "The Red Room" the narrator stumbles around frantically trying to escape the room.

These stories create different amounts of fear and tension in the way the narrator reacts to the specific situation and the different settings with detailed description, which makes the ghostly ambience of the stories.