How tension Is built Up in short stories

How do the two stories “The Red Room” and “The

Signalman” build up tension and suspense?

The stories, “The Red Room” written by H.G wells and, “The Signalman” by Charles Dickens were both written in the Victorian era. At that time, the short story was a popular genre as a form of entertainment. Ghost stories and thrillers were particularly popular with the Victorian readers, therefore it was essential for the authors to build tension and suspense to keep the readers interest.

“The Signalman” is a short story about a man who works for the railway company. There is also another character in this story. The Gentleman is the other character in the story. We never get to know his name. This is one way Charles Dickens built up tension, by making the Gentleman a mysterious character. We similar never get to know the Signalman’s name either which adds to the mystery. Likewise we never get to know any names in “The Red Room”. This is one similarity between the two stories.

“The Signalman” is set in a dark railway cutting with a signal box at one side of the railway track. The walls were made of clammy stones. We know this because Dickens says, “It was made of wet clammy stone”. This too adds to the tension.

The three characters keep on reminding the young man that the room is haunted but he disregards this comment, “I said -it’s your own choosing”. However they make him feel a little uncomfortable because of their age, unattractiveness and belief in supernatural begins.

“The Red Room” and “The Signalman” are of the same genre. They are both ghost stories. Furthermore know one is named in either story which adds to the tension and suspense of the story. This is a similarity between the two stories. They are both set at night which is typical of a gothic, horror genre. They both effectively build up tension and suspense. In both stories both of the main characters are manipulated. In “The Red Room”, he loses control of his feelings when he feels he is in control. In “The Signalman”, he believes the apparition is warning him of someone else’s death but it is in fact his own death. Both Stories don’t disclose details until the end and this keeps the reader in suspense until the closing lines. There are also differences between the two stories. There is no actual ghost in “The Red Room”. The writer is telling us that we are only alarmed by fear itself. Whereas, in “The Signalman” there is a ghost. I think that the build up of tension in “the Red Room” is effective and thought provoking.

The Characters have an eerie and mysterious manner. “This night of all nights, said the woman”. The characters create tension, as you never now fully what they are talking about, we don’t even know their or the narrators name. The narrator of this story is a person who wants to confront whatever lies within the red room, in an effort to uncover all the superstition that surrounds the room. In the first few lines we can see that the narrator is a confident and strong minded person, who is at the same time fair and, although in the room with the old people it is a difficult situation, he tries to be patient and polite to the other people. It shows he is confident in the first line when he says, “I can assure you that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.” He also seems very defiant when he stands up in front of the fire with his glass in his hand. Once the man with the withered arm is introduced

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The most similar method used is the isolated atmosphere. Used in short stories in this age. alongside the majority of Gothic short stories the stories are set in an unknown location to the protagonist (therefore the reader). In ‘The Signalman' the ‘black tunnel’ which the main story is set behind. It is described as a ‘great dungeon.' This imagery gives the reader the idea that the signalman is trapped down in his job and absorbed by the apparitions. It is set in a hazy unclear dusty atmosphere in a tunnel Whereas in ‘The Red Room’ the place remains anonymous along with the location and the characters which generates a great sense of mystery. ‘The long, draught subterranean
passage was chilly and dusty.’ This description shows how isolated the house is, and that it is untouched an uninhabited. The effect of such is that the reader is intrigues by the isolated atmosphere and wants to find out more details. Foreboding is used in almost all Gothic short stories. The use of foreboding in ‘The Signalman’ and ‘The Red Room’ engages the audience by making them want to find out the ending from the drip fed information revealed throughout the story. Foreboding is the central theme of ‘The Signalman.’ The signalman sees apparitions which are like premonitions which foretell his death. “I was doubtful,’ he returned, ‘whether I had seen you before.’ This exclamation from ‘The Signalman’ is referring to the man the signalman is talking to. He claims to have seen the man he is talking to (the protagonist) in front of a red light covered with smoke. This leads us to believe that the signalman is speculating, but after he tells of other fulfilled premonition, it grabs the reader’s attention and compels them to believe what the signalman is talking about, and how his premonition of the protagonist is fulfilled. ‘The Red Room’s’ technique is slightly different but follows the same basic application. ‘...it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.’ This suggestion indicates an instant sense of irony because the reader foresees that ‘a very tangible ghost’ will come into the story; however, it also tells of a previous confrontation in ‘the haunted room.’ ‘I
surveyed the great red room of Lorraine Castle, in which the young duke had died.’ The memory of a previous happening in the red room bodes that the same will happen to the protagonist and absorbs the reader.

Another technique built in throughout each story is the constant conflict between the supernatural and rationality, which as an absolute stereotype in the Gothic genre of literature. The protagonist in each story becomes scared of the inexplicable happenings and premonitions in both stories, and make completely irrational actions through instinct and panic. This is evident especially in ‘The Red Room.’ The protagonist in this short story, when inside the red room, experiences unsettling happenings which lead to thoughtless behaviour. ‘I had forgotten the exact position of the door, and struck myself against the corner of the bed.’ This proves to the reader the effect the supernatural is having upon the protagonist influencing his foolish acts. ‘ “Odd!” I said. “Did I do that myself in a flash of absentmindedness?” ’ This is an example of the rational side of the protagonist. In ‘The Signalman’ the signalman eventually becomes so unsettled by the apparitions that his mind would not work properly. ‘ “As the engine came out of the tunnel, his back was towards her”, This proves that the signalman was distressed. Even though he could have easily avoided the train having enough time to react, he let it hit him. An obvious technique used in every Gothic short, is the use building the tension. The language and sentence structure used builds the tension by cliffhanging the ending. It uses a lot of repetition to emphasize something in the story. In ‘The Red Room’, H.G.Wells makes many inferences throughout the story to shadows. “...and my candle flared and made the shadows cower and quiver. The echoes ran up the stairs and a shadow came sweeping down after me.” This description personifies the shadows and forebodes that something inanimate, a concept perhaps will be personified later in the story. He also uses repeated actions rather than just descriptions. “I walked back, relit one, and as I did so, I saw the candle in the sconce right of the mirror wink and go out. The shadows seemed to take another step towards me.” This happening demonstrates the use of repetition with two separate ideas, an action and a description. The descriptive repetition has already been covered, but the action has not. The candles lit around the room are going out seemingly by themselves in quick succession. After the protagonist lights them, another on around the room goes out, leading the audience to believe that the occurrence is not a coincidence. The use of repetition is also quite prominent in ‘The Signalman.’ The use of repetition is the principle part in story. The story revolves around the idea of premonitions telling the signalman what is going to happen; therefore the apparition of the premonition will show what is destined to happen later in the story. “‘I was doubtful,’ he returned, ‘whether I had seen you before.’ This exclamation indirectly refers to a previous premonition in the life of the signalman, of him seeing the man he is talking to. “‘What made you cry, “Halloa! Below there!” tonight?’ ‘Heaven knows,’ said I.” The question also reveals what his previous premonition was, and that it had been recited that night.

The language use in both short stories are quite similar. ‘The Signalman’ uses long
descriptive sentences to set the scene well, and create a clear and vivid atmosphere. “On either side, a dripping-wet wall of jagged stone, excluding all view but a strip of sky; the perspective one way only a crooked prolongation of this great dungeon; the shorter perspective in the other direction terminating into a gloomy red light, and the gloomier entrance to a black tunnel, in whose massive architecture there was a barbarous, depressing, and forbidding air.” This description contains two semicolons which proves that Dickens deliberately tries to make the sentences as long as possible. Also, Dickens tries to use dark adjectives to engage the reader by making the image more vivid and disturbing. However in ‘The Red Room’, Wells does not use such long sentences, but concentrates the adjectives throughout the story. He also use complicated wording structures and vocabulary to try to confuse the audience. This is a stereotype of H.G.Wells work, and forces the reader to concentrate and follow the plot much more intensely. For example ‘The Time Machine’ uses lots of difficult words to force the reader to focus more.‘The Signalman’ and ‘The Red Room’ equally withhold a lot of information in the opening; the characters are referred to as “he” in ‘The Signalman’ and “the old people” in ‘The Red Room’ which makes the reader want to know who these people are, and therefore they have to read on and become intrigued and engaged.

Each character in the short stories is not described to the reader at first, although when they are, it is a very vivid description. The authors don’t give away anything at the beginning of their tales, which is a very effective technique of enticement as it draws the reader into the book. However, Dickens supplies us with a very clear setting where ‘The Signalman’ is concerned: “His post was in as solitary and dismal a place as I ever saw.” This is typical Gothic writing, referring to an unhealthy, bleak and rather lonely place. In ‘The Red Room’, Wells uses a long sentence, short sentence structure;“I turned to where the flames were still dancing, between the glowing
coals, and splashing red reflections upon the furniture…” and then “The candle fell from my hand”. This displays that Wells builds up the tension in the room, also showing his vulnerability and how helpless and useless he is, using repetition as well, “and vanished,” “the glow vanished,” “rushed together and vanished”. This tension is greater and then he uses a short sentence to bring the reader back and shock them and show that something has happened or been done.

At the end of ‘The Signalman’ we are left very much on a cliff hanger. There is a bit of a mystery and the reader is left with many unanswered questions. Uncertainty and confusion as to why the signalman died, “…called to him as loud as I could call”, this puts the reader in a state of disarray because we want to know why he did not hear the whistle and the shouting and the train and did he kill himself, was it madness and suicide or just simply a mystery, possibly only explainable by the supernatural. The reader is left wondering what those apparitions were and why the man was there at all, why he came and what made him so interested in this particular man, what his purpose was, (other than to narrate). The man who talked to the signalman is left feeling very disturbed, “…but also the words which I myself – not he – had attached, and that only in my mind, to the gesticulation he had imitated” ties the story together and creates the cliff hanger. It is almost as if he is asking the reader why he had those nightmares, why he heard those words, “Halloa, below there” and “for God’s sake, clear the way” so much and then the signalman completely ignored it. The signalman’s face “is quite composed” as if it was deliberate and it was meant to happen and he had no worry of the train and maybe he knew it was coming.

One other answer to this ending is that maybe he wanted to die because he felt his life was going nowhere and he felt guilty of using his chance to become something far greater than what he is now. ‘The Red Room’ has a more open ending as it makes the reader think about what this “Fear” is and whether it really is a thing or just a superstition which gets the better of people. We are told that there is no ghost at all but something far greater, “…there is no ghost there at all, “and that is, in all its nakedness – Fear,” which implies there is nothing supernatural in our world, just us and our minds playing tricks upon us. It is very alike to. The ending returns to the opening, where we are still left wondering what it is about the red room that makes it so scary and feared, “…many things to see and sorrow for”. The ending also implies that there will always be a mystery and the haunted red room won’t be gone unless the house is gone and it has been demolished. Both these stories provide us with an unusual but enticing story, very different but both linked to Gothic literature and both leaving us with so many unanswered questions. They tackle these stories using devices which captivate us and make us want to read on; both use the same devices throughout the story but in different contexts. Within the two short stories, the opening engages us immediately and the open ending leaves us wondering and thinking about the tale for a long time. An uneasy atmosphere takes over, he also creates mystery by making the reader wonder why he has a withered arm and whether it is anything to do with the red room. The man with the bad back is similar to the man with the withered arm by making the reader ask himself or herself how he got it

Will Pinnell SLH