Mystery and Suspense in Dickens Short Story The Signalman...

The Signalman was first published in the Mugby Junction Christmas Edition book in eighteen sixty six. The Clayton Tunnel Crash in eighteen sixty one is believed to have inspired Dickens to write the short story the Signalman. During the time that Dickens was writing the Victorians had a fixation with the paranormal also there were many technological advances one of them being the steam train. The Signalman has two main characters in it, one is the narrator who speaks in first person, and the other is the Signalman. Neither man is named throughout the story. The story has three main incidents which the Signalman claims that he had been warned of by a ghost who stood at the end of the tunnel. The Signalman is a very mysterious character.†¦show more content†¦By doing this it brings the character of the narrator to life, and makes the story more realistic and believable. This also allows Dickens to bring feeling into the story, which makes the story vivid in the readers mind. Their isn’t much use of Dialogue in the opening paragraphs, but all the conversation is made by the Narrator, posing the reader to question what is the matter with the signalman, and leaving room for our imagination to run riot. By making the Signalman react in the manner that he does makes the character mysterious. We are left to feel curious as to who this character really is. It also seems that the Signalman is pre occupied; making the reader think that there is something else going on in his mind. In the second page of the story Dickens completely contrasts the way he writes the story in the first page. It is an unusual method of writing for Dickens using a lot of descriptive words such as clammy, oozier, wetter, dark, and heavy, dripping wet, gloomy and forbidding. These words do not create a happy merry scene, in fact quite the contrast; it depicts a dull, miserable dark dreary place that no one would want to work at. This creates a scary environment within which to narrate his story, because you know something is going to happen which makes the reader on edge and creates suspense. This change of direction creates more confusion for the reader because weShow MoreRelatedTension and Suspense in Walter de la Mares poem The Listeners and Charles Dickens The Signalman651 Words   |  3 PagesTension and Suspense in Walter de la Mares poem The Listeners and Charles Dickens The Signalman The Listeners is a mysterious story in the form of a poem written by Walter de la Mare. The poem opens with direct speech Is there anybody there asked by the traveller which straight away grabs an audiences attention because we also want to know if there is anybody there, this opening also creates tension and suspense as it gives the impression that the traveller is isolatedRead MoreEssay on The Signalman by Charles Dickens3739 Words   |  15 PagesThe Signalman by Charles Dickens Halloa! 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