‘The Signalman’ and ‘The Foghorn’
English Wide Reading Essay The Comparisons between 'The Signalman' and 'The Foghorn' begin before you even start to read the actual stories. 'The Signalman' taken from Charles Dickens' 'Mugby Junction' was written 1866 whereas 'The Foghorn' was written almost a century later. Charles Dickens is also a person whose name is known throughout the English speaking world, unlike Ray Bradbury an American 20th century writer who is not so well known. 'The Signalman' is set around the same time it was written, in the Great Railway Era, 'The Foghorn' though is not set in any specific time in history. Both of these stories are set in what would be classified as isolated locations, 'Out there in the cold water, far from land', already in the first sentence of 'The Foghorn' there is an indication of the loneliness of the lighthouse and also, 'there wasn't a town for a hundred miles down the coast', which reinforces the loneliness of the situation. In 'The Signalman', 'the steep cutting', evokes a sheltered place away from the view of passers-by because of the steepness of the cutting. 'his post was a very solitary and dismal a place I ever saw,' This portrays a very gloomy and very depressing place because of the loneliness. 'a dripping wet wall of jagged stone,' gives the reader a sense of coldness but makes it sound very harsh and unwelcoming place. Bradbury also uses stone,
The Landlady and Signalman Comparison
The Landlady and Signalman Comparison In this assignment, I am going to be looking at two stories from this century and the last and examine them for similarities and differences in content, style and language. The first I instantly notice is in the setting of the stories; the big difference in the settings is in the locations. 'The Signalman' is set in a desolate trench in a railway tunnel, where there is no houses or people for miles. Whereas 'The Landlady' is set in a small town in Bath. There is a large contrast in the atmosphere of the stories, and in the way, the writers wish to build up tension although both environments are capable to produce a horror elements in the stories. The main characters are both very different in looks and the way that the writers describe them. Their appearances are different, both characters names remain revealed to the reader. Dickens describes his the signalman as: " A dark sallow man, with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows" Apart from this Dickens does not give much more detail on the signalman, leaving his character shrouded in mystery. The Landlady's appearance is completely different to this as Dahl describes. "She had a round pink face and very gentle blue eyes". The settings of the stories vary; the big difference in the settings is in the locations. 'The Signalman' is set in a frighteningly steep cutting in signal
Short, entertaining stories were extremely popular within the Victorian era, and a number of popular writers emerged, captivating their Victorian audience with their suspenseful tales. Elizabeth Gaskell, Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens
Prose Study Short, entertaining stories were extremely popular within the Victorian era, and a number of popular writers emerged, captivating their Victorian audience with their suspenseful tales. Elizabeth Gaskell, Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens were all respected authors in this era, and they produced three of the most tense short stories ever created; 'The Old Nurse's Story,' 'The Black Cottage' and 'The Black Veil', which cater for Victorian tastes. Therefore, each story boasts a moral that the writers have chosen to present in equally effective ways. These taught the Victorians how to live their lives, and followed the teachings of the Christian faith, while also revealing the writers' social concerns. Each writer has chosen their own distinctive ways to present their Victorian story, and the openings are designed to attract their readers into their tale. 'The Old Nurse's Story' has been written in first person, in order to convey the feelings of Hester, to the readers that she was 'mighty proud' to be selected as a 'nurse-maid'. 'The Black Cottage' uses Bessie for first person narration, and her feelings about her 'foster-sister' and how she will remember the 'kindness and friendship' 'gratefully to the last day of' her 'life'. This gives the readers Bessie's feelings about Mrs Knifton, describing Bessie's point of view, to ensure that the readers automatically
The use of atmosphere in the Signalman.
One of the writers main tools in a story is the use of atmosphere. It sets the place, the general feelings of the characters and the feelings of the reader. The two writers that wrote the stories in this essay use a lot of techniques to mainly build on an atmosphere of tension and suspense. The first line of the "SignalMan" is, " 'Halloa! Below there!' ". The signalman looks away confused. As this is what the ghost had said the signalman is cautious about the source of it. This is the visitor. This already adds a tense atmosphere, as the signalman is afraid and cautious of the new visitor. You then find that the visitor is 'down the Line' which is where the ghost was. This makes the signalman even more cautious as there are two similarities of the visitor and the ghost. Though the reader does not know this yet. Dickens makes the visitor mysterious at first, "He looked up at me without replying, and I looked down at him without pressing him too soon with repetition of my idle question." The visitor also did not reply to the question when repeated in voice but only by his hands. The way the visitor is mysterious adds a lot of tension and still keeps the cautiousness of the visitor being the ghost. "His attitude was bone of expectation and watchfulness that I stopped a moment, wondering at it." This suggests that the signalman is nervous of the newcomer. Throughout
Compare the signal man by Charles Dickens and if she bends, she breaks by John Gordon
Compare "the signal man" by Charles Dickens and "if she bends, she breaks" by John Gordon Introduction In my essay I intend to compare the similarities and differences of many aspects of 2 short stories. "The signal man" a pre 20th century story by Charles Dickens and "If she bends she breaks" a post 20th century story. By John Gordon. They are naturally different because of their age. The signal man is pre20th century and is typical of the style of story from that era. If she bends she breaks is post 20th century so it has more modern words and is aimed at a younger audience. The stories themselves are similar in that they are both macarbre ghost stories. Titles The title to every story gives the first impression and can give clues as to what the topic of the story is or what will happen.The signal man is a plain boring title thay does not make people wish to read it.If she bends she breaks on the other hand is an unusual title , it is mysterious and makes you want to read on. But a good title does not necessarily mean a good story. I found the signal man was a much better short story where as if she bends she breaks seemed a better title but it is aimed at young children, is a pretty boring story and the plot is easy to pick up, early in the story. The signal man is a boring title but it lets you know what the story is about without giving away the plot. If she bends
Victorian Prose Study Assignment
Gcse English Literature Victorian Prose Study Assignment Gcse English Literature Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle write their stories deliberately creating an air of mystery and suspense. 'The Signalman' written by Charles Dickens is about a signalman who works at a lonely station in an underground railway cutting who is haunted by a sceptre and other unknown supernatural forces that foretell of imminent doom. 'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' written by Arthur Conan Doyle focuses on a ghost hound that has haunted the Baskerville family since the evil Hugo Baskerville was murdered by it. Ghost and mystery stories are designed to explore the irrational or supernatural side to our lives by arousing irrational fear. They allow the reader to be frightened and horrified but the horror is controlled so that it's not too over whelming for the audience, to make it seem more believable. The writers have written for a distinct audience: one for a Victorian, who were fascinated by the supernatural, with the train as a new nineteenth century invention they were very frightened in what could happen. Dickens saw this as a perfect opportunity for the setting in the 'The Signal Man'. Doyle's audience had more psychological thought, and were very interested in how people's past could affect them in the future, how the Baskerville family where being haunted by a hound killed by a
The Signalman and The Monkeys Paw are carefully constructed stories. What methods do the writers use to gain, sustain and ultimately, to satisfy the readers interest?
'The Signalman' and 'The Monkeys Paw' are carefully constructed stories. What methods do the writers use to gain, sustain and ultimately, to satisfy the readers interest? These stories contain a lot of suspense and create a lot of pictures in the minds of the readers. Both 'The Monkeys Paw' and 'The Signalman' are both well thought out well-constructed stories. They contain many methods that are designed to keep the reader interested and eager to know what is about to happen. Without the correct use of these methods the book would become predictable and boring. One of the methods used to gain the readers attention in 'The Signalman' is the dropping of subtle hints of what is about to happen. In the case of 'The Signalman' this would be the three appearances the specter makes. The appearance of the specter creates questions like 'Why is he appearing?' and 'what does he want?' The specter gives hints of impending doom for the signalman but the question how then pops into the mind of the reader. The signalman tells the narrator that he has seen him before and the words 'Halloa below there' he has heard before too. Also when the narrator calls to the signalman from the top of the hillside he looks in the opposite direction at the red light instead of at the narrator. This causes many question to come into the mind of the reader like 'why does the signalman think that he has
Compare the different techniques used by Charles Dickens in 'The Signalman' and Thomas Hardys in 'The Withered Arm'
Compare the different techniques used by Charles Dickens in 'The Signalman' and Thomas Hardys in 'The Withered Arm' In Charles Dickens 'The Signalman' and Thomas Hardys 'The Withered Arm' the authors apply many different techniques to create the mood/atmosphere they are trying to put across. 'The Signalman' and 'The Withered Arm' both have a sense of the supernatural but the way it is shown is very distinctive. In the opening of 'The Signalman' Charles Dickens uses the five senses many times. The first line of the story is the narrator shouting 'halloa! Below there!' This is quite an unusual opening to the story because it goes straight into the story with a sense instead of starting with a brief introduction of the characters or the setting of the story. Sound is used quite a bit as well. There is alliteration used along with the descriptions of the sense of touch. An example of this is 'vague vibration'. Sight is another sense that is used in the story a lot. An example of this is where he says 'from looking down the line.' Hearing is the final sense used throughout the story. An example of the way in which this is used is 'violent pulsation'. These examples of the five senses are just in the beginning of the story and there are many more examples used constantly throughout the story. The signalman is very different from other stories. This is because it is only set in
An Essay comparing three short stories, The Red Room", "The Club Footed Grocer" and "The Signalman"
An Essay comparing three short stories, "The Red Room", "The Club Footed Grocer" and "The Signalman" I will be examining how tension and suspense are created in three short stories. I will analyze the use of language, setting, and characters and plot to see where tension has been created for the reader. We are studying three stories, 'The Signalman', which is a pre-1900 Charles Dickens story, 'The Red Room', by H. C. Wells and "The Club Footed Grocer" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Charles Dickens would have written 'The Signalman' for a Victorian audience who were very interested in science and mystical events. So Dickens wrote the story with a supernatural mood and with the upper most intent to create fear for the reader. He has also written the story in a railway setting, which was central to Victorian life. This small setting goes in the same basis for the other two stories as they date back to the same period and stories in pre-nineteenth century were written like this. What this means is that the stories were similar in the way they where presented, as they were built around a small story setting. In the "Red Room" the enclosed location is the big house, and we do not have any contact with the outside world. This does not let the story expand much at all. However in "The club footed Grocer", there was a relatively large setting in which the story I developed. The meaning
How do the two stories create an atmosphere of mystery and suspension? - 'The Signalman' and 'the Darkness Out There'.
How do the two stories create an atmosphere of mystery and suspension? Both 'The Signalman' and the Darkness Out There' create mystery and suspension and keep the reader wanting to read on. Charles Dickens builds mystery up right from the start of the story, 'The Signalman'. The opening line, 'Helloa! Below there!' creates a sense of mystery as you naturally want to read on and find out who, this someone (more mystery) is shouting at and the reasons why. By this opening, suspense is also created as there is no identification or names given and the exclamation marks show desperation and anxiety. As the opening line is on its own, only one line in the paragraph, this also gives us a sense of isolation, and that someone may be alone. As the person calls down to the signalman it takes him along time to reply creating suspension and tension and makes the reader want to read on and find out more. When Dickens writes, 'The deep trench' as the man looks down on the signalman this portrays in the readers' mind as hell and danger. 'The Signalman' was written in the Victorian times, 19th Century and trains were new at the time, so many people would be new to them and would be cautious whilst near them. Dickens describes the appearance of the Signalman as; 'he was a dark swallow man, with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows.' This refers to him being pale, unhealthy looking,