When you have finished reading the story “The Signalman”, please write an essay about it in the following form.
Paragraph 1: Introduction (Be sure to include title and author here as well as whatever else you find appropriate as an “opening”.)
Paragraph 2: Discussion of the story’s setting (Where? When?)
Paragraph 3: Discussion of the story’s Characters (Who?)
Paragraph 4: Discussion of the story’s Action (What happens? - the plot)
Paragraph 5: Discussion of the story's Style (How does the writer tell the story? For "The Signalman, you will probably want to focus on the creation of a spooky atmosphere and the building of tension.)
Paragraph 6: Discussion of the story’s Ideas (“Themes” – Go ahead and interpret this as you like. There is no “right” or “wrong” answer here.)
Paragraph 7: Conclusion (Try to include some personal reaction to the story here.)
Though you could, of course, spend a long time writing an essay like this, please try to approach this one as though it were an exam question on which you can spend only about 40 minutes to write a full seven paragraphs.
Hope It’s Good :)
ReplyDeleteThe title of this short story is ‘The Signalman’ which was written by Charles Dicken’s in 1866.
The story is set outside an entrance of a tunnel that led into a mountain that had a very deep cutting threw it. A zig-zag shaped path led into this deep cutting with wall’s on both side’s that were always dripping wet. Nothing could be seen from down their exept a little strip of light coming from the sky. Thier is also the Signalman’s tiny box like room that had a fire, a desk, a bell and a telegraphic instrument for communication.
The charecters in this story are the narrator and the signalman. The narrator seem’s to be a very curious man with alot of time to spare. He seems very adventures because he keep’s going back to the signalman who seem’s to be a little bit wierd. The signalman was well, the signal man that only did a little bit of work but was very important he signalled trains. He was very skilled in his job and did everything perfectly, he was well educated but had gotten this job and was now to old to change it.
The plot of the story is the Narrator is wondering about and see’s the signalman and goes down to speak to him. At first the signalman seem’s to act very strange and wierd and ask’s the narrator if he’s seen him before. They talk for a while and the narrator becomes very curious about this signalman and arranges to come and speak to him the next day. The narrator soon figures out that the signalman is seeing ghost’s. The signalman goes on to tell him about how he first saw the visions and each time after the visions appeared something bad happened, these ghosts were trying to warn the signalman but he didnt know what they wanted him to do. The 3rd visit of the ghost was telling the signalman to beware of something but he didnt know what. The next day the narrator saw many people down by the box and another small box that was as big as a bed. He asked what was going on and asked where the signalman was. The man told him that the signalman had died because the train had hit him. The driver acted out how it happened and everything that he acted out, the ghost warned the signalman about.
The style of this story is that the narrator is telling someone else this story and most likely implying it to be a ghost story. The way the writter wrote this was very spooky and unreal in my opinion, but it was very good. The spooky atmosphere was built because of where it was set, and how the signalman spoke and acted. It seemed strange from the start because of the way the signalman was described and then obviously the story he told about the ghost. The tension was built up when the narrator kept returning to vist the signal man and how it ended up with the signalman dieng exactly the way the ghost had described.
The theme’s of this story would be ghost’s and death. Ghost’s because of the spectre that had kept visiting the signalman and death because of all the death’s that happened which the ghost tried to prevent.
In all i enjoyed the story very much and thought it was very interesting to read. I thought the idea’s were great and not boring, because i kept reading it and didnt stop until the end. The story did kind of freak me out because i hate ghost’s and ghost stories and the place it was set would have scared me even more.
THE END :)
The Signalman
ReplyDelete"The Signalman" is a ghost story written by Charles Dickens in 1899.
The setting of this story is a deep cutting with walls on all sides and a tunnel. There are rails for trains and the place is very wet and dark. There is also the little Signalman's box. The only way you can leave this place is by going up a steep zigzag way. All in all the setting is really spooky.
In this story are two main characters: The narrator and the signalman.
The narrator is a very curious man who doesn't seem to be scared of many things. He has a lot of free time. The signalman is a mysterious person but he is well educated. Somehow he quited university before he finished it and then he took this job and now he says he is too old to change anything about it. The signalman talks and acts in mysterious ways so that the narrator gets very interested in him.
The story starts with the narrator who sees the signalman and at once wants to talk to him. But the signalman acts really mysteriously and doesn't talk very much but asks strange questions. This makes the narrator even more curious. He comes the next night and the signalman tells him about a ghost that haunts him. The signalman explains that the ghost has visited him twice and after these visits there happened bad accidents with and in the trains. The signalman also says that the ghost now haunts him again and he doesn't know what to do about it. The ghost says 'Below there! Look out! Look out!' and it does strange movements with his arms.
The next time the narrator wants to visit the signalman, there are a bunch of people who have bed-shaped box next to them. The narrator asks what happened and the people answer, that the signalman has died because a train cut him down. The people also said that the guy who drove the train cried as loud as he could: 'Bellow there! Look out! Look out! For God's sake, clear the way!' and the guy also waved with his arms, exactly the same way the ghost has done it.
The story is written as if a narrator is reading it to you. For example there is indirect speech which gives us the feeling that all of it is told by someone who doesn't really remember the exact words. It all makes the story more real. There is also a very spooky atmosphere because the signalman acts so mysterious and the setting is so scary. The narrator keeps visiting the signalman though he is behaving so strangely. This makes the story very exciting.
The story has the main theme 'ghost' in connection with 'trains'. This is a good connection because trains and old, lonely rails are always very spooky. The ghost is this scary spectre that tries to warn the signalman.
This story was really interesting especially at the very end and when the signalman died, the whole story suddenly made sense because then find out what the spectre tried to tell him. This ghost story is not that scary but it still has a spooky atmosphere and I enjoyed reading it.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEssay on “The Signalman”
ReplyDelete“The Signalman” is a short story written by Charles Dickens, who is a very famous author who also wrote the much known “Oliver Twist”. This story was written in the 19th century, in the year 1866 to be exact.
This story is set in a cutting through a mountain in England that trains pass through. It is set at night both of the times when the man visits the actual signalman. The place the signalman works is not pleasant. It is cold and wet and gloomy, and is like a dungeon. Only a tiny spot of light can be seen if you look up.
There are two main characters in the story. One of them is the main character, but we do not learn much about him at all, not even his name. We only know that he somehow ends up on this mountain calling to the signalman below. The second main character is the actual signalman. He is described as having a black beard and large bushy eyebrows and a very low voice. Also he is very mysterious and not energetic. He says that he is continually seeing these “figures” by the red light in the tunnel, and that they must be some kind of sign.
The story begins with the narrator (we never learn his name) calling out to the signalman “Halloa! Below there!” which seems to scare the signalman so he does not look up. He decides to climb down and ask him what is going on. The signalman seems to be a very mysterious man, with a long black beard and big bushy eyebrows, and a very low voice. The signalman says he thought he saw the narrator before, at the red light in the tunnel. The narrator thinks this is ridiculous, but continues to question the signalman because of his curiosity. The signalman takes him to his little box where he stays when waiting for his bell to ring; this bell rings when he has a job to do e.g. signal a train, pull a lever etc. What caught the narrator’s attention was that he did the same actions as if the bell had rung, when it hadn’t rung. The narrator comes back the next day and the signalman gives him more information. He says that he is seeing figures at the red light, only a few hours before an incident happens on a train that passes, and one of the times, the figure has one arm over his face, and one arm waving around frantically “For god’s sake! Clear the way!”, and one of the times, the figure is standing with two hands over its face. The narrator is sure that these events are just coincidences. The next day, the narrator comes back to find out that the signalman is dead because he got run over by a train. The driver of the train explains that he had one arm over his face not to see, and one arm waving around “For god’s sake! Clear the way!” This really shocked the narrator and he realized that these coincidences are too big to have a scientific reason, but they must have something spiritual to them.
The writer styles this story by writing is very mysteriously, he does not jump to the climax very quickly, but instead describes the setting a lot and creates a spooky atmosphere before actually getting to the plot, which makes the story much more interesting to read.
The theme of this story is basically a ghost story, because you feel from the beginning that there is something abnormal going on, and that there is something related to spirits on some way.
I thought this story was not boring at all, and i actually enjoyed readin every bit of it. I thought the author really created a good atmosphere with the description of the setting and the characters, and he really managed to create a good spooky feeling all throughout the story.
The Signalman
ReplyDeleteThe Signalman was written by Charles Dickens. It was written as a short story in 1866.
The story is set around the mid 19th century in a cut through a mountainous region where trains pass through. There is a tunnel and outside of the tunnel lays the Signalman’s house. The house is small and basic. All we know is that there is a fire, a bed, some levers to pull which control the train tracks and a device to tell the signalman when to pull the levers. The tunnel is described as dungeon-like as it is dark and inside, it is very bleak.
There are two main characters, the first is the Signalman; the other is the narrator. The narrator stumbles across the Signalman at the very beginning of the tale when he shouts ‘hallo, below there’. The impression we get is that the narrator is a normal man, whilst the Signalman on the other hand, is very mysterious.
Once the Narrator shouts the greeting ‘hallo below there’, the Signalman panics; instead of looking above, he looks at the track. We later realise that he was looking at the red light by the side of the tunnel. The narrator and the Signalman converse at the start (which sounds like an interview) but before he leaves, the narrator is curious about what troubles the Signalman. The narrator is told not call out again. The next day when they meet, the Signalman tells the Narrator about this red light that haunts him by calling ‘Hallo below’. The Narrator tries to reassure him that there is nothing to worry about. But then the Signalman tells the Narrator about the train crash after the red light was calling him. The Narrator finds this a coincidence but we later learn that he was wrong. But we also find out that the Signalman wasn’t being troubled by a red light at all but by a fellow signalman or resident nearby. He was warning the signalman to get out of the way, but it was too late.
I believe that the setting played a key role into creating the spooky atmosphere. This is because we get the sense of isolation and a sense of coldness from the dungeon-like setting. The way the Signalman talks and his choice of words. He says very little and we get the impression that Dickens intended the Signalman to have a deep, mysterious voice to emphasise the environment. This also builds tension especially when he tells the Narrator about the train crash in his small house around midnight.
The main themes of The Signalman are ghosts, mystery, death, paranormal noises. The ghosts are from what the Signalman tells us and death is indicated by the signalman’s death. There is no sudden change of theme during the story which makes it an easier task for the reader to understand.
I really enjoyed reading the Signalman because I was able to relate to the setting very quickly and easily. I have seen areas like this in northern parts of Britain. Even today there are still signalmen doing the job mentioned in the tale.
The Signal Man
ReplyDeleteThe Signalman is a short story written by Charles Dickens in 1866. Basically, The Signalman is a ghost story, involving trains, death and the recurring appearance of a strange spectre. The story itself doesn’t seem to have much of an underlying moral or theme, other than death and mystery…
The story is set in 19th century England by the cut-out next to the infamous Clayton tunnel. High walls on either side of the track are described as being wet, hard and ‘oozing’ with a sense of lifelessness and cold. The tunnel itself runs into a black ‘nothingness’ with similar walls to the cut out. Overhead cables swing and crack in the wind topping off the dark atmosphere. The story takes place at night time so the ‘spooky’ effect is amplified.
There are really only 3 main characters in the story, none of whom actually have a name mentioned in the story. The narrator is a perhaps wealthy man one who has the time and leisure to explore the countryside, seemingly without anything holding him back. He is inquisitive, well educated and acts rather cool and logically. The second character we meet is the signalman himself, a very precise and vigilant man who is excellent at his job. We learn through his recount of his past, that he was once a student of philosophy but he went wild and lost his opportunity at university. We also know that he is a very troubled man, troubled by the sight of a spectre, our third character, whose appearance has been the follow up to two deadly occurrences.
The story begins with a call from the narrator down to the signalman below. The first hint of odd is when the signalman looks not down up where the man was, but down the line at a red light. The narrator ten goes down and speaks with the signalman, he finds him somewhat odd and overeducated for his post, but intrigued nonetheless. He agrees to come back the next night at around 11pm. Upon his second visit, the narrator finds out a lot more about the signalman and his past. But what the narrator can’t help but notice is that the signalman seems troubled, and on certain trips outside the signalman returns looking rather worried and scared. This is when the narrator finds out about the spectre, and even after putting it down to a human fault, the narrator is persuaded by the signalman that the spectre is real, especially after learning that it appears before two deadly accidents. After learning about this the narrator decides to leave and return another day. The next day he does return however, he is shocked to not only find the spectre as the signal man described, but people huddling around a dead signalman. After speaking to the driver of the train who had hit the signalman, the narrator learns that the driver of the train was waving and shouting the same words and doing the same movements as the spectre described by the signalman. This leads the narrator to believe that it was some sort of Harbinger of the own signalman’s death.
Part 1
Dickens wrote the story with spookiness and ghost story scariness, but not horror, in mind. Wet stone walls high above toe railway track give a feeling of eeriness and enclosure. Overhead cables that are flapping in the wind add strange noises to the atmosphere. The Signalman is an odd person; he appears troubled and does not quite make himself clear when he speaks, somewhat cryptic when he is first encountered in the story. Dickens also builds up some tension by making the narrator visit twice. On the first visit there is a little weariness between the two, but by the second visit the spectres and train crashes are in full swing. Whilst the signalman is talking occasional noises outside set a creepy air about the place. All the talk of warnings and spectres had to build up to something, and both of the character realised it was a matter of time until something happened, little did they know how soon it would.
ReplyDeleteThe story doesn’t really have much of an underlying meaning, but death and mystery are certainly present, however, not in huge amounts, the story isn’t full of dead and gore etc. but is a more mysterious type of scary. I suppose that the story demonstrates, set aside the supernaturalism for the moment, how quickly people can be gone and how both themselves and the people around them can often to very little do stop it. I think the story also demonstrates that warnings and precautions can be made, but the outcome cannot be changed.
I enjoyed reading the story very much, I thought the way Dickens set the scene, and made the signalman the perfect man for the job but still the signalman was flawed, not by himself but by some external supernatural force that eventually led to his own demise. I felt somewhat saddened at the sudden loss of a character that was starting to become more interesting, a character that would have been great to explore for a few more pages, but I in turn liked the abrupt ending, in which the narrator himself sees the spectre. Could this be a warning for the narrator himself, or is the spectre waving goodbye to the person it tried to warn?
END
The Signalman
ReplyDelete‘The Signalman’ was written by Charles Dickens in 1866. It is about a man who finds a signalman in a tunnel, who is acting strangely. This man is the narrator in the story and it is written in the first person. The signalman is visited by a ghost, and every time the ghost comes, someone dies. This Signalman seems to be being haunted by the ghost.
It is set in England in 1866, the time when it was written. It mostly takes place in this dark ‘dungeon’ like cutting in a mountain where trains go through. The signal man lives in a small hut, which is very box like, with a bed and a fireplace and a small desk. There are jagged stones from the wall. There is also just a small strip of sky visible.
There are only two characters in this story. One is the narrator, we know little about. He seems to be wandering around, seems to be ‘free at last’ he may have inherited money. The other character is the Signalman. He seems to be in his mid-forties. He has a dark beard and hard eye brows. He went to university but either dropped or was kicked out. He spent his time in this tunnel learning; math, and even learned a language, which he couldn’t speak or never heard. He was a very strange man, most probably the effect of staying in this tunnel. He has a dark beard and hard eye brows.
In the beginning, the narrator, sees the signalman and yells out, “Halloa! Below there!” The signalman doesn’t react and just looks down the train lines. A train comes past and the narrator yells down again, and the signalman tells him to come down. They talk, and the signal man tells him about himself and about his job. A few times, he gets up to go check his telegraph and a bell, just usual checks but twice, he gets up when there was no bell, stops the conversation ‘mid-syllable’ to check it. He asks about this red light and tells him that he should come back the next night and the signalman will tell him. He comes back the next night and tells him that he saw a man with his left arm across his face and waving his other arm as if saying “get out of the way!” The signalman runs towards him, but he disappears before he can reach him. Later on there is an accident. He then tells him, that he saw another character with his hands on his face, as if mourning. Later on a woman dies in a cart of the train. He thinks that there is a connection between these, but the narrator says that they are just a coincidence. He decides to come back the next day. He finds that the signalman was dead, hit by a train, there was a figure with his left arm across his face and waving his other arm as if saying “get out of the way!” again. It seemed as if the signalman was drawn towards this character with curiosity and then got killed. This was also the third time this figure, maybe a ghost, appeared.
The writer is making a very spooky tone with this story. He builds up suspense very well, and always keeps a sense of mystery. The way the signalman always has some ambiguity in what he says. Also, you always think when he says he will be going back the next night, that something bad is going to happen and when you hear about the strange figure with its hand across its face...
One of the themes seems to be ghosts, there is obviously something going on with the three appearances and the death. Death is also another theme, with the death every time the ghost appeared.
I enjoyed the story quite a bit. The ambiguity made me want to read on and find out what happened next. After the second appearance, I felt like I knew that there was going to be another death, but I wasn't who or what it would be.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe Signalman
ReplyDelete‘The Signalman’ is written by Charles Dickens, in 1866 and it tells a story of the ‘Narrator’ who goes into a tunnel and finds a lone signalman and decides to find out why he is down here. The signalman tells the ‘Narrator’ of a strange ghost that keeps appearing and bringing death.
‘The Signalman’ is set in 1866 in England, most of the setting takes place in a cutting in a mountain which inside seems like a ‘Dungeon’ to the narrator, the tunnel is also dark, wet and there are a lot of jagged rocks. There is a small hut or ‘box’ that is the Signalman’s house, with a bed, a small fire and a desk with his equipment, there is the small strip of light that can be visible from below.
There only seems to be two main characters in the story but there are others. First is the Narrator, we do not know much about him since the story doesn’t reveal much but we do know that he might be retired, he also seems to be a curious sort of chap. The Signalman we know that he is an intelligent person, he seems to be in his 40’s and has a dark beard, dark hair and dark eyebrows, the Signalman also seems to be the very best at what he does and never misses his time to signal the trains apart from 2 times where the ghost has rung the bell. We do not know much about the Ghost apart from that whenever he appears some sort of accident seems to happen, at the end there are also 2 guys, one seems to be the train driver and they are covering up the Signalman’s body.
The story starts off with the Narrator says “Halloa! Bellow there!” and when he says this the Signalman seems to look down the train track towards the ‘Danger-Light’ and when he calls out “Halloa! Bellow there!” again the Signalman then turns towards the Narrator, once the Narrator gets down to the Signalman’s Level; he starts to talk to the Signalman about why he is down here. After they have had their chat the Signalman invites the Narrator back to meet him in the tunnel, when the narrator goes back the next night, the Signalman asks him if he was ever in the tunnel before the night before and then tells a story of the ‘Ghost’ that keeps appearing. The Signalman then tells the Narrator of the actions that the ghost has been making, first he puts his right arm over his face and his left hand waving frantically like he is saying “Get out of the Way!” After the first encounter that the Signalman had, within 10 hours there was a Train accident and a lot of people were dead and wounded, the second time that the ghost appeared a woman suddenly died while the train was going past. After the Signalman had told the narrator of these tales he left and came back the next day only to find that someone had died, and that someone was the Signalman. He had been standin on the tracks while a train was passing, the driver tried to warn the signalman but he did not hear the driver and he was cut in half by the engine.
The Style in this story seems as if the narrator is retelling his past encounter with the Signalman, he creates a spooky atmosphere quite well as he describes the surroundings as a dark, dungeon-like place with only a small crack of light from above, he also describes the tunnel with jagged edges along the sides thus creating a more spooky or ‘chilling’ effect. Charles creates Tension by having the Signalman tell us about the Ghost that haunts him as well as asking the Narrator to come back the next night as there you know that something will happen.
The story has a couple of Themes, a spooky theme, due to the ghost appearing, the numerous deaths and accidents and the surrounding area, another theme is Death, since there are 3 deaths in the story with the last one being the Signalman’s own death.
I quite enjoyed reading this story as I like the whole scenario of the story; I also found it interesting to read as the tension kept building up, I liked the idea’s of the story as they were good for something that was made in 1866, overall this story was a good one to read.
Rai.
THE SIGNALMAN
ReplyDeleteby Sara Welander 9B
"The Signalman" is a short ghost story written by Charles Dickens in the year of 1866.
The short story was set around the time when it was written, so probably around the 1800s. It doesn't tell you in the story where, specifically, they are, but you can guess that they are in England out in the countryside in the middle of nowhere. The whole story is set in the dark, 'deep trench' where the 'signalman' lives. As described in the story it is said to be a frightening, dark, wet cut in the rock where a tiny bit of sunlight is reached during the day. Definitely somewhere you do not want to spend a lot of time in.
The main 2 characters in the story is the signalman and the narrator. The signalman is depicted as a thin, bearded, 'sallow' man. The narrator describes him as looking inhuman, but a spirit who has definitley spent way too much time in that dark trench. What we know about the signalman is that all he does in that trench is do his job, which is just writing down figures, ever few minutes, and between that do some algebra. The narrator doesnt explain much about himself so we don't get to know a name or why he came to the signalman. We suspect that he just is a free wanderer, walking along the countryside feeling like a free soul, compared to this dark man, the signalman.
The plot of "The Signalman" is about the narrator learning about this sad man and about his life down in his box in the cave. It was about him trying to figure out why the signalman is so dark, mysterious, and troubled. The story then goes more in depth about the signalmans terrifying experience about the spectre. This all explains what makes him so 'troubled' like e.g. why he stares at the red light right above the tunnel all the time with a face expression of someone who has just seen something horrific.
The style of the story and the way it is written from my opinion, was a bit confusing. The way he was trying to tell the reader what was going and what was happening was hard to follow. You couln't tell whether he was talking to the signalman or talking to himself. But other than that it was pretty understandable. The way Dickens created a spooky atmosphere was amazing. How the signalman told the narrator about his story with the light, It definitely sounded spooky and frightening. And he told it in a way ghost stories are normally told e.g. '...one moonlit night...'.
The theme of this short story is, obviously, a spooky theme since it is about ghosts and death.
The theme is also about the 'spectre' and the red light. It is about how they are signs of something terrible that was about to happen, which did in the ending.
As a conlusion and personal opinion of "The Signalman" i have to say it was a very interesting and exciting short story. Also quite thrilling you have to admit. The plot was extremely good and smart. Also how Dickens described the signalman, you definitely understood how troubled he was, and as the signalmans story was elaborated you understood WHY he was that troubled. But, i got to say, the language was pretty advanced and some words were a bit difficult to understand. But I can probably understand why since the story is from all the way back to 1866, so no wonder there is confusing vocabulary. Otherwise, i found "The Signalman" very entertaining and enjoyable to read. :)
Toby Cook :) The signalman..
ReplyDeleteParagraph 1.
The Signalman was a short story written by Charles dickens in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Signalman was a ‘spooky’ story involving ghosts and a train track.
Paragraph 2.
The Story is set in England in 1866 inside a deep cutting of a mountain that had a train running through it. There was a very steep and zigzagged shape path leading towards the bottom of the cutting and had a ‘dungeon-y’ feeling to it with cold wet walls and it was very dark. At the end of the path there was a tiny hut with a lit lantern inside it, this is where the Signalman was.
Paragraph 3.
The two main characters where The Signalman and The Narrator. We didn’t actually find out the names of either of the characters but the narrator seemed to not work but have enough time on his hands to be able to wonder around the English countryside. He was a very curious man and wanted to know more. The Signalman on the other hand was a man who had flunked his years in education but was a smart man, who had a very easy and boring job but was very important, obviously being a Signalman. He was in his 40s-50s and had his job since he pulled out of college and now felt too old to change it. He was very good at his job and would do his job as soon as the bell in his hut ringed.
Paragraph 4.
The story is about the Narrator wondering the English countryside when he sees the signal man in this cutting and calls down to him “how do I get down there?” He then speaks with the signal man and at first, The Signalman was acting very weird and he thought he had seen the narrator before. The Narrator arranged with The Signalman to come meet him here again tomorrow. The next day The Signalman tells the Narrator about him seeing ghosts and how every time he sees them something bad happens. The next day The Signalman came back again and he saw a few people down by this hut and The Narrator asked one of these people what had happened and where The Signalman was, the person said that The Signalman had died as a train had hit him.
Paragraph 5.
It is written in first person by the Narrator and he dosent even tell you his, or The Signalman’s name. He builds tension by the dungeon like atmosphere the way The Signalman spoke and acted and the way The Narrator wanted to return to such a strange characterised person.
Paragraph 6.
The Story is mainly talking about the old and ghostly atmosphere and how abnormal the whole situation was. I got really into this story and could picture the zigzagged passage with old, cold walls what makes me kind of anxious and wondering what’s going to happen.
Paragraph 7.
I enjoyed reading this story as it was easy to read, SHORT and I thought it was very well written. It wasn’t a boring story and I felt like I wanted to read on. The setting had the biggest effect on me and I could draw pictures to the story rather easily.
The Signalman
ReplyDeleteThe Signalman is a short story written by Charles Dickens in 1866, and is based around two characters mainly, the Signalman, and the narrator. The story is set in England at the time that Dickens wrote this piece, and is based upon a spectre that keeps harassing the Signalman.
The Story is set in Victorian England, along a set of train tracks, cut through a mountain, producing a tunnel at one end, and a never-ending sight of the rails on the other end, and boxed in by steep, jagged, dripping walls, cut in a zig-zag patturn through the rock, showing only the faintest of light, no matter what the time. The Signalman has a little ‘hut’ where he stays during his shifts, with a fire place, bed, and his various tools needed for the job at his desk.
The characters of the story are: the Narrator, who seems to be quite a young, curious man, who is exploring the countryside, when he stumbles upon the Signalman’s little hut, and suddenly becomes curious about the Signalman, and wants to know more about him. He has plenty of free time, and uses this to visit the Signalman. The Signalman is a man, who seems well-educated, but has been stuck with his current job, which although simple and effortless, he takes very seriously, and with great responsibility. He keeps having these sightings of a spectre, sometimes waving his one of his arms, and using the other to cover his face, and sometimes in a disappointed stance. He gets run-over by a train, and ends up dying, with the train driver waving his arm in the same manner as the spectre who he kept seeing.
The story starts with the narrator wondering around, when he stumbles upon the Signalman’s post, and he shouts below to him, and when he see’s the Signalman look around in suprise, he is curious about him. He walks down the zig-zag path to his hut, and the two begin to talk, about each other, and eventually decide to meet up the next day, the narrator really wanting to find out more about this Signalman. When they do, the Signalman reveals a secret to the narrator, explaining his sightings of the spectre, and how they were associated to horrific accidents related to the train line. When the narrator leaves for the night he spots the spectre waving his arm, and covering his face. A some what happy, and shocked narrator leaves, and returns the next morning to the Signalman’s post, where there is a commotion. When the narrator asks what happened, he was told that the Signalman was run over by a train, and how the driver was waving his arm like the spectre.
The way the story is written makes it feel like the narrator is repeating the story to another person, and it is in his memory. This effect is added upon by the use of indirect speech, making the speech more thought-like. He made the atmosphere spooky, and to add to this, he used spooky imagery, and built up tension along the way of the story, right up until the end. He also used great description, but still keeping it slightly rough, as if to suggest it was being told in the future by the narrator. There is a cliff-hanger feel to the story, making the reader want to read further.
The main themes for this story are that of a spooky atmosphere, mysterious feel and story, and also touching into the paranormal. The story feels mysterious as of the weird happenings in relation to the ghost appearances, which corresponds to the paranormal. I feel that the era also adds to the spookiness and mysteriousness, being set into the Victorian times, all the technology is new, and not known much about, which somehow give the story a better effect.
As a whole, i very much enjoyed reading this story, and i liked the suspenseful build-up. The era was perfect for the story, and the setting was spot on. I thought the Signalman was a great character, and i didn’t have a clue as to what would happen at the end. I love a good ghost story, so this appealed to me greatly, and if i were to rate it out of ten, it would get a 9, only thing wrong being not really enough action, and not long enough for the suspense build-up.
Ohio XD
ReplyDeleteThe Signalman
By Evita Otigbah
‘The Signalman’ was written by Charles Dickens in 1866. It is a story about a ghost that comes to visit a man (signalman) and every time he comes to visit something happens. After the third visit the signalman dies by getting run over by an engine.
The story takes place in England in the 1900s in a cutting in a mountain; near a tunnel were trains pass. The place is dark and is described as a ‘dungeon’. You can only see a tiny strip of the sky when you look up. The narrator also says there is a sense of death. There is a house and it is a solitary place to be. The place is gloomy and the walls are wet. There is also a red light near the tunnel.
There are important characters in the story. The signalman how works in the cutting and keeps on seeing the ghost. He is a ‘dark swallow man’ and he has a dark beard. He is also very good at his job and went to university but played a lot and didn’t consider his options. The second character is the narrator we are not told much about him but he is a very curious person and seems to be free to do what wants and go wherever he may please. The last important character is the ghost; he is the person that warns the signal man 3 times of the accidents to come.
The story is told from the narrator’s point of view (we do not really find out much about him). In the beginning he calls out to the signalman but the signalman is confused from where the sound is coming from. The narrator then climbs down the cutting to visit the signalman. They start talking and the signalman leads him to his little box. They sit by the fire and talk but shortly after the narrator has to go the signal man tells him that if he is to come again, but that when comes he must be quiet until he reaches below. The second time the narrator visits the signalman tells him that something is worrying him he talks about a specter that has been visiting him .The first time the ghost comes it seemed to be telling the signalman “Halloa! Bellow there” and then a terrible train crash happened. The second time the ghost came it was in grief then soon after a young woman on a train dies. The third time the ghost appears it was telling the signalman "For God's sake, clear the way!" after the second time the narrator visits the signalman when he comes to visit him again he is dead. (The signalman died by being run over by an engine).
The style of the story is semi gothic which can be seen by the use of dark imagery “clammy stone, that became oozier and wetter as I went down’ showing it was moist ‘His post was in as solitary and dismal a place as ever I saw” suggesting that the place seemed so lonely depressing. More importantly the creation of suspense within a gloomy atmosphere; the place is referred to as a “Great dungeon” meaning it was not a nice place to stay. Dickens establishes this atmosphere early on in the story as the background for the main plot (as you read it Dickens becomes less descriptive about the surroundings and characters, instead he concentrates more on the story its self. Some examples of how tension in the atmosphere is created can be seen in “There was a barbarous, depressing, and forbidding air” showing not only did it depressing but even the air in the place was depressing. “It had an earthy, deadly smell… so much cold wind rushed through it, that it struck chill to me, as if I had left the natural world” the narrator tells us that the place didn’t even seem like a real place, like he had left the real world and was now deadly and cold place hinting unnatural or supernatural place.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion there is no message or theme to be found in the story. It is very interesting especially with the style and imagery that Dickens uses especially in the creation of suspense. It also fits in with Dickens stories or works that are about Victorian Britain.
I think it is the type of story that can be read just to pass the time because from my point of view you learn nothing from it. It can be thought of as the type of horror story that you would read at a Halloween sleepover. Nevertheless I enjoyed it because even though it is short Dickens has filled it with enough text that sets the situation clearly, a perspective that brings you closer to the story because the narrator is telling you he story like he would as interesting gossip and a plot that carries you from beginning to end with sufficient suspense to keep one interested.
Evita Otigbah
Outo oh
XD
sry had to split it Again -_-' but at least you can understand the paragraphs [y] :)
The Signal Man is written by Charles Dickens in 1866. It is a short ghost story, and it is probably written because people were afraid of trains at that time, and also because Dickens himself was in a train accident.
ReplyDeleteThe setting of this story is in the 19th century, England. The railway, with the tunnel cutting in the mountain, also the cabin of a signal man, also it is always either evening or night or early morning, so it is always dark, grey, and cold which is unpleasant.
The characters are the narrator, who is a middle aged man, and we know that he probably retired because he has free time to just wonder around, also the signal man who is a middle aged man too, who seems strange at first, but in reality he is normal. There is also the ghost from the future who tries to tell something to the signal man, and some people from the train accident, and that young woman who died, but the main ones are the narrator and the signal man.
The story is about a guy who wonders around and finds this train station which a signal man, so he comes down to have a chat, and he finds the signal man very strange because he doesn’t talk at all, or replies in a strange way. Then he finds out why the signal man is so strange and realizes that he is not as strange as he seems to be, the signal man asks the narrator to visit him again, and so the narrator comes and signal man tells him a ghost story, and so both of them are scared. At the end the signal man dies.
The writer wrote this story very well. He created the spooky atmosphere by making the place isolated, dark and cold, he also added the danger light which was red, and red is always a scary colour, and also in ghost stories things usually come in three, so when the signal man told us about the two cases of him seeing a spectre, we could know that there was one more to come.
The idea is to make you feel scared I think, because it is a ghost story. Also quite an important thing is the train station, because the writer was in a train accident, and also maybe the train symbolizes the industrial revolution, and that people are scared of it, because it was something new to them. Also ghosts were really popular at that time, and time travelling too, I mentioned time traveling because the ghost is actually from the future, trying to warn the signalman about his death.
I really enjoyed this story, because I never read ghost stories before, and it was not so scary to read because I knew that I was in a distance from the story itself, but when I watched the movie I got scared actually. Also it was interesting to get the clues and predict what will happen next, and also it was good to think about symbolization, which was used in this story very well.
Essay on ‘The Signalman’ by Charles Dickens
ReplyDeleteParagraph 1
The signalman is a short story written by Charles Dickens in 1866. The signalman is a well known story across the globe study very often in English classes. There has been a film made out of it by the BBC.
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The Signalman is set in England in a cut out zig-zag tunnel where the signalman himself lives. It is set in the 19th century in England. The tunnel is a dark spooky place in the mountain its self. It is a scary ‘dungeon type tunnel’ where the signalman has a little hut where he lives.
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There are 3 protagonist in the short story, one of which the signalman himself, then there is the narrator and the specter or ghost that the signalman sees. The signal man is a middle aged man with dark eye brows and a dark long not taken care of beard. The narrator is as well a middle aged man who is very interested in the signal mans story. The ghost is the person that tries to warn the signalman.
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The story starts off with the narrator calling down the tunnel. The signalman is scared of the voice as he thinks it is the ghost again. When he realizes it is a man he asks him to go with him into is house. He tells him to visit him again so he can tell him a story, though he says not to call out just to wait till the signalman says he can come. The signal man tells the narrator about the ghost he’s seen 2 times before and each time something terrible has happened afterwards, the 1st time there was a train crash and the second time a little girl died on the train. The narrator tries to calm the signal man down but the signalman sees the specter for the 3rd time and is once again afraid something else is going to happen. Something does happen the specter himself dies this time so he was right.
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The style of the story that Charles Dickens uses involves building up a certain amount of suspension by making the atmosphere spooky and because people die in the story in a very tragically sort of way. Dickens creates a scary atmosphere by making the scenery dark and cold and in a shadowy dug out tunnel in the middle of now where. By just calling the man the signalman already tells the reader that this character is scary, alone, and forgotten which is really creepy also that he lives day and night all on his own in the dungeon like tunnel.
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The signalman is written in such a way that through out the story it is written in the same theme there is no change. So it is a lot easier for the reader to keep up and stay focused. The main themes are ghosts, death, a lonely man (maybe who has gone crazy and just needs professional help) and a terrifying tunnel. The ghosts are a sign I believe for the signalman warning him that something is going to happen and the death is indicated by the death of the signalman.
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The signalman was a great story I loved the way Charles dickens wrote this story. The theme of spookiness is one of my favorite. The fact that the story is short and easy to understand is a lot more fun to read and death and murderer stories are as I said my favorite and for me to like a story is quite a big thing as I am not a fan of books and reading :)
The Signalman
ReplyDeleteby Tatiana Torriani (PART 1)
The Signalman, written by Charles Dickens and published in 1866, is a fictional piece of writing. It is considered a ghost story, and was first a part of the “Mugby Junction” in the 1866 Christmas edition of All the Year Round. Charles Dickens based some of the events that happened in this story on real life happenings. For example, the Clayton Tunnel crash that happened in 1861. In the story, there is also two trains that crashed into each other, and it gets the readers of 1866 to have a picture of what happened.
The short-story is set in a little cutting inside the side of a mountain, where many trains pass through, and there is a ragged/zig-zag shaped path leading to it. The cut is rather rough, with jagged rocks sticking out here and there, it could be quite steep, and barely any light can find its way into it. It is dark, gloomy, a little bit unsettling, and resembles a dungeon rather than a railroad tunnel. There is a box in the deep in the cutting where there is a fire place, a telegraph machine used for communication, and the bell that the signalman must constantly watch. It is a lonely and rather gloomy place, the dark cutting, and it gives a very unwelcome feeling.
The main characters in The Signalman are the narrator and the signalman himself. The narrator is a very curious and knowledgeable person who finds the little hole in the mountain and decides to see what or who is in it. He seems to have a curious nature, and doesn’t believe too much in the supernatural. He also seems to have his feet firmly on the ground, and doesn’t become afraid too easily. He also seems to have a lot of time on his hands. The signalman, on the other hand, is slightly paranoid and has a sort of freaky personality. He’s mysterious, and seems to have quite a bit of a past. He has a black beard, large bushy eyebrows, and a low voice. He also has a record of seeing a ghost-like figure always appearing next to the bell, and like’s math.
The story starts out with the narrator finding his way to the cutting and making his way down the path (which leads into the cutting) to the railroad track. He sees a man, the signalman, and decides that he wants to talk to him. Once he meets the signalman, though, the signalman has a deep and spooky voice, but still decides to make a conversation with him. He asks the narrator weird questions, but since the narrator is naturally a curious person it makes him want to know more about the signalman and he’s peculiar behavior. The signalman invites him to come over the next night, and the narrator agrees to. So he arrives the next night, and the signalman talks about a ghost that has visited him twice. At first, the narrator is skeptical as to whether the signalman has actually seen a ghost, and thinks maybe he was hallucinating. But the signalman tries to convince him otherwise, saying that both the times that the ghost visited there were terrible accidents. The narrator believes that they were probably coincidence, but then the signalman explains that the ghost is now haunting him again. Then the next night when the narrator wants to visit the signalman he finds that there are many people there --- but no signalman. When he asks what had happened, it turns out the train had cut the signalman with a fatal speed, killing him. The narrator is shocked to hear this, and is even more shocked when he hears that the conductor had said what the ‘ghost’ had also said, ‘Below there! Look out! Look out!’
((Part 2))
ReplyDeleteThe style of this story is as if the narrator of the story is explaining his past encounter with the signalman, or maybe told as a story to scare his friends. He creates a spooky atmosphere by explaining how dark, gloomy and enclosed the cutting in the mountain is. He explains that there isn’t much light that gets into the cutting by saying the only source of it is a small crack from above. Saying that the actual cutting is jagged edged makes the setting seem even more spooky and seemingly more dangerous. Having the signalman telling us about the ghost he had encountered, and asking the narrator to come back again, created tension and had you ‘at the edge of your seats’ (so to speak). He also makes you think about what could happen the next nights that the narrator visits the signalman.
There are two main themes in this story, which would be ‘ghost story’ and ‘death’. Another theme that could go with this story is ‘mystery’, but not as well as the others. I chose ghost and death because there is a spooky feeling throughout the entire story, and there are a couple of visits from a ghost. ‘Death’ I chose because of the series of deaths that seemed to happen whenever the ghost appeared, or soon after.
I enjoyed reading the story, because of the way it was written as well as how it grabs the reader’s attention right when you might think nothing is happening. I liked the ideas that were in the story, and how the author, Charles Dickens, didn’t dwell too much on one fact. I always look for a good ghost story, because most of the ones written are rather boring and not worth reading, but this one is a good read.
The Signalman
ReplyDeleteThe signalman is a story written by Charles Dickens. The theme is scary and spooky it leaves a lot of mystery. In the beginning it gives the main idea of the story, it also leaves a confusion for the reader.
The story is set in the English countryside. But the main setting is in the mountains of the English countryside. It is set in the nineteenth century when steam trains were used and a man was needed to flag the trains by and make sure the line was clear.
In the story there are two main characters, they is the signalman who signals the train and clears the area, he is also very precise with his job and will never make any mistakes, then there is the narrator who is an old retired man who has time to go explore the countryside, and when he comes across this man he stay’s fixed to him and wants to find out about him.
The main story is about how the signal man does his duty everyday, and then one day he is visited by a figure which haunts him again and again, he sees this badly and every time he ensures with the trains coming and going whether everything is ok. When the narrator meets the signalman and he is told about these figures that haunt him, he tries creating reasons for why he is seeing these figures. But even at the end the mystery is not solved.
The writer confuses you at first, by placing the plot first at the beginning then creating the outside story. The writer uses a lot of description to describe the signalman and the way he acts. He helps create an image with all the description he gives, and also the writer creates even more confusion and images by making the signalman say random expressions that don’t fit in with the conversation.
I liked the idea of the story, the setting matched the characters and the story. I like the way it is open ended and leaves space for you to create your own ending. Also I like the signalman’s strange and mysterious character. But the best part is how the narrator tries to understand and figure out the signalman but does not get very far at the beginning, it takes him a long time to actually understand him. But on the whole I liked it a lot.