“The cutting was extremely deep, and unusually precipitate. It… became oozier and wetter as I went down.”
But this description is a mere hint of the stories tone in comparison to the delineation of the signal-mans station. From this depiction, the reader can easily visualise the setting.
“…this great dungeon…terminating in a gloomy red light and a gloomier entrance to a black tunnel…there was a barbarous, depressing and forbidding air. So little sunlight ever found its way to this spot that it had an earthy, dead smell…as if I had left the natural world.”
A scary, haunting scene is produced. Almost the entire story takes place in this setting, so the atmosphere is almost permanently tense and deathly.
From there on, the story is mainly following a conversation between the narrator and the signal-man. During their dialogue, there are quite a few references to a fire in the ‘cabin’, which indicates that it is quite dark. When their talk is over, they decide to meet again at eleven the next night.
When the characters get to talking about the signal-mans first encounter with the ‘spectre’, the signal-man describes the setting of this experience fearfully.
“I stopped and held my lamp above my head…and saw the wet stains stealing down the walls and trickling through the arch. I ran out again, faster than I had run in (for I had a mortal abhorrence of the place upon me)…”
This quotation conveys the signal-mans feelings of fear and anxiety well.
Later on, when the men look for the spectre at the tunnel, significance is put upon the mouth of the tunnel in a way that makes the atmosphere tense.
“there was the danger-light. There, was the dismal mouth of the tunnel.”
All of these descriptions help build up to the creepy, edgy ending, but the use of the language is another important part of the unnerving atmosphere.
Many times, when talking about the stories setting, dickens would use emotive colours in descriptions, such as:
“…the glow of an angry sunset.”
“…a gloomy red light and a gloomier entrance to a black tunnel.”
“…his grave, dark regards…”
The main theme of the use of colours is danger and despair. The prominent colours are red and black, which are both dark, gloomy colours, but can also be harsh and angry. The use of these two colours is quite significant, as the stories theme is of danger, despair and despondency.
The setting is occasionally referred to in metaphors, such as the train tunnel being called a “great dungeon”. There are hardly any similes in the text, though the number of personifications makes up for this absence.
“The wind and the wires…with a long lamenting wail.”
All in all, there aren’t many figures of speech contained in the story, but much of it is made interesting by the copious use of adjectives.
The signal-man himself is described in a bizarre manner, though there is some underlying oddity bout him.
“…I pursued the fixed eyes and the saturnine face, that his was a spirit, not a man. I have speculated since whether there may have been infection in his mind.”
The reader gets the impression that the signal-man is unstable and will therefore have less trust in him. Descriptions of the signal-man, such as “sallow”, “saturnine”, and “self-reproaching” all portray an image of an unhappy, possibly disturbed man.
There are many quotations that give indication to the strange way in which the signal-man carries out his duties, his conversations with the narrator, and his reaction to the spectre. A key example of the signal-mans peculiar behaviour is the following:
“He directed a most curious look towards the red light…and looked all about it, as if something was missing from it, and then looked at me.”
Such a quotation gives a fair indication of the signal-mans bizarre manner, though it doesn’t give particular hint to the panic that appears to rise with the signal-mans character when he talks and thinks about the spectre.
“What is the danger? Where is the danger…Surely there is a cruel haunting of me. What can I do?”
The use of short, sharp sentences helps increase the signal-mans hysteria.
Many of the events in the story are written in long, thoroughly descriptive sentences that include several commas to separate specific events, and further descriptions. Though sometimes it can be slightly difficult to follow the story, I understand that this kind of writing was common for the time. The only time the sentence structure differs is when the story is at a tenser moment. At such a point, the sentences tend to be shorter and more to the point. I think this way; the sentences make a bigger impact.
Taking all of this into account, I believe that the atmosphere for the story has been well produced through both the description of the setting, and the usage of language.
