The Signalman
In this essay I am going to explore how Charles Dickens creates the appropriate atmosphere in the short ghost story The Signalman. The story is set in the 1860's in a railroad cutting, this was around the time that trains were coming into use. The story is about a train Signalman, who gets a visit from a man. The man visits the Signalman for a second time and is told that he is troubled by a ghost. On his third visit to the Signalman he finds that he has been killed by a train.
The story is started with the line, "HALLOW! Below there!" This is direct speech. From this line we do not know who is calling or whom they are calling to, this makes the reader ask questions about the story and what is going to happen next. We do know from this line that someone is up high calling down. Later in this paragraph we are told more about where they are, "but instead of looking up to were I stood on top of a steep cutting nearly over his head, he turned himself and looked down the Line." The Narrator finds this behaviour strange. As he says, "One would have thought considering the nature of the ground that he could have not doubted what quarter the voice came from."
Throughout the story we are not told the names of the characters. The Signalman is refereed to as the Signalman. The story is written in first person so the Narrator refers to himself as 'I,' this makes the reader empathise with his feelings, as we find out what happens the same time as he does. We know little about the background of the Narrator, other than he is refereed to as 'Sir' and this shows that he is higher class than the Signalman. Also from the line, "in me he merely saw a man who had been shut up within narrow limits all hi life, and who, being at last set free had a newly awakened interest in these great works." This makes the reader ask more about the past of the Narrator.
We know more about the background of the Signalman, (as the story is more focused on what is happening to him) "a student of natural philosophy, and had attended lectures, but had run wild, misused his opportunities," from this line we can see that he was once very educated. We also know that the Signalman is extremely dedicated to his job, "in discharge of his duties, I observed him to be remarkably exact and vigilant. This shows that the Signalman has spent a lot of time doing his job, " The Signalman is described as a "dark sallow ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
We know more about the background of the Signalman, (as the story is more focused on what is happening to him) "a student of natural philosophy, and had attended lectures, but had run wild, misused his opportunities," from this line we can see that he was once very educated. We also know that the Signalman is extremely dedicated to his job, "in discharge of his duties, I observed him to be remarkably exact and vigilant. This shows that the Signalman has spent a lot of time doing his job, " The Signalman is described as a "dark sallow man, with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows." The word sallow is used so that the Signalman appears unwell. The Narrator also says, "I have speculated since whether there may have been infection in his mind." This description of the Signalman is used to make the reader feel that the Narrator should feel uncomfortable around him.
When the Narrator and the Signalman meat, the Narrator thinks the Signalman may be a ghost, because of his strange behaviour towards him, " before he stirred I was near enough to him to have touched him. Not even removing his eyes off mine, he stepped back one step and lifted his hand." This behaviour makes the reader think that the Signalman is afraid of the man, as he appears he is afraid to move or takes his eyes off him. He also steps back away from him as though he is being threatened. The reader is also made to feel that the Signalman is strange. The Narrator also steps away from the Signalman and says that he thought he may be a ghost, "the monstrous thought came into my mind, as I perused the fixed eyes and saturnine face, that this was a spirit, not a man." This language is intense, the words monstrous, saturnine and spirit are words that create an out of the ordinary atmosphere, relating to the supernatural, it also gives a sense of a remorseful story line. This is irony as we find out later that the Signalman keeps seeing a ghost, and at first thought the Narrator was a ghost.
The story is set in a railroad cutting. The cutting is described vividly at the beginning of the story. Dickens uses words such as clammy, oozier and wetter, these words are all wet words and describe the cutting in a dull and depressing way, making the reader feel uneasy about the setting. The word oozier is onomatopoeic, and this adds an eerie sense. The line " a dripping wet wall of jagged stone, excluding all view but a strip of sky." Is used to make the Signalman appear as if he has been imprisoned in his job. It describes the setting in a dull and degrading way. Dickens also uses lots of dark words, such as, 'solitary', this shows the Signalman must be lonely, 'dungeon', again this shows that the Signalman has been imprisoned by his job. Also the words 'deadly', 'depressing and 'foreboding' are used to make the setting seem dangerous, and so the reader feels uncomfortable about the Narrator being there. The word deadly is dramatic and over powering, it creates a more intense atmosphere.
Tension is increased when a train passes, "just then came a vague vibration in the earth and air, quickly changing into a violent pulsation, and an oncoming rush that caused me to start back, as though it had forced to draw me down. When such vapour as rose to my height from this rapid train had passed me." At this point the tension is dramatically increased. This line is used to build up the suspense until we meat the Signalman. It adds to the tension that we do not know that it is a train until it has already passed and keeps the reader on edge.
The story is set at nighttime to add spookiness to the story as the shadows add an eerie ghostly atmosphere. The sunset is described as angry because Dickens is trying to make everything sound evil, as a sunset is normally described as beautiful. This is personification and adds a twist to the atmosphere. When the Narrator hears about the Signalmans troubles, he feels uncomfortable. "Resisting the slow touch of a frozen finger tracing out my spine." He tries to dismiss his troubles and explains it as hallucination; "I showed how that this figure must be deception of the sense of sight, and how that figures, originating in disease of the delicate nerves that minister the function of the eye."
The story is structured so that both the narrator and the reader are kept in suspense about what is going to happen next. It is set over a period of three days and although the days carry straight on from one another we are kept in suspense as we have to wait until the Narrator has described the atmosphere and walked down the cutting until we know what is going to happen. The tension is raised at the end of the first day when the Narrator is asked to wait until the next day to find out about what is troubling the Signalman. On the third day the tension is high straight away as there is a large amount of activity were there is normally none. We can feel the Narrators fear, "the nameless horror that oppressed me passed in a moment." At this point we are withheld information of what has happened until the Narrator asks the men what has happened.
We can therefore see that Dickens created the appropriate atmosphere using various literary techniques. Also by withholding information from the Narrator and the reader to make them want to know what is going on. He also uses the description of the cutting to create a tense environment. The strange behaviour of the Signalman adds to the atmosphere and is used to confuse both the Narrator and the reader.
