Please spend this period re-answering the your exam question on prose fiction. Answer the same story you chose in the exam. Use the text of what you wrote, comments, and further good ideas to make this something you can use for revision next year.
Here, again, are the questions.
Discuss the ways that TWO of the following stories have the effect of inspiring fear in the reader.
- “The Signalman” by Charles Dickens
- “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury
- “Meteor” by John Wyndham
Discuss the effect of using first person narration in TWO of the following stories.
“The Signalman” by Charles Dickens
“How It Happened” by Arthur Conan Doyle
“Meteor” by John Wyndham
“The Taste of Watermelon” by Borden Deal
Fear, Death and lonliness are the key theme's in both "Signalman" and "There will come soft rains".
ReplyDeleteThe characters in both stories have a big effect in inspiring fear upon the reader. 'The Signalmans" main character is the signalman, he speaks in a low tone and his actions make him out to be a very mysterious man. We can tell he's very strange and mysterious when he just stops what he's doing and looks outside without saying a word, and then after that he starts to speak to the narrator once again. He is an old man who has lived most of his life down by the railway tracks in a dark and gloomy atmosphere. There was also a big tunnel which is pitch black and the sun never really shun down there. All those details make the story frightening including the setting which makes the place seem dark and lonely. Also the ghost and its actions are an obvious symbol of fear. The way it cried out warnings is quite a frighting thing especially since it is a ghost and also how the ghost knew what was going to happen in the future and the future is a very frightening thought for most so this detail could inspire some sort of fear upon the reader. In "There will come soft rains" their isnt really much of a charecter as the house is the main charecter. It is a mechanical house and it is the only thing left in that town, every human, house and animal is all gone. The thought of being alone is a very frightening thing as no one would ever like to be alone, so here we can see that lonliness is the key theme in this story. The house is programmed to do the same things over and over again each and every single day even though no one's around. The story is set in the future and as i mentioned before the future can be a frightening thought. The biggest fear is inspired when the house burst's into flames and everything is destroyed, so now nothing is left in the town. Fire is a very frightening thing to expierience so that scene/section inspires quite a bit of fear and this is the most frightening bit in "There will come soft rains" where as in
"The Signalman" the predicted death of the signalman becomes reality and death is probably the most feared thing out of everything. All in all both stories express a lot of fear between them giving a big effect of fear upon the readers.
Two stories that inspire fear are “The Signalman” and “There will come soft rains”. “The signalman” is a short ghost story written by Charles Dickens in the year of 1866. Its main themes are specters (ghosts), horror and mystery.
ReplyDelete“The Signalman” has many ways of inspiring fear to the reader, since it is a ghost storey. The character of the signalman has many ways of doing this. The signalman of the story is described as a ‘dark, sallow man’ and that he always has a look on his face that it seems he has just seen something terrifying. This man is very peculiar being that he lived in such a dark place. That is why the author made this man to be one of the many ways of inspiring fear to the reader. One example of him doing this is how the narrator tells the reader how now and then the signalman stops talking, looks at the little bell behind him and straight away goes outside staring at the red light above the tunnel. He then always returns to the narrator with a look full of terror. This makes the reader curious what it is that makes this man look so frightened.
A second example is how the signalman begins his story about the specter; ‘One moonlight night…’ There are many ghost stories that we know of that usually begins with those words. It is like when everyone sits around a fire telling ghost stories .This is a very good example showing how the author inspires fear to the reader. Other ways of inspiring fear is how the narrator tells the reader how the signalman’s tone and voice are. In the story he says that the signalman has a very slow and dark voice.
Another story which there is fear in is “There will come soft rains” writt en by Ray Bradbury. This is a kind of sci-fi story describing the future of a house in California after a nuclear war. This story is written in 1950.
Just like “the signalman”, “There will come soft rains” has as well, many ways of inspiring fear to the reader. The main inspiration is that the only characters in this story are robots in a big empty house. Through the whole story these robots are serving around the house just like an everyday routine of a human’s life. Examples of this are cooking meals, doing the dishes, filling baths, telling poems/stories out loud, reminding the kids to get ready for school/go to bed etc. This doesn’t sound that terrifying, but when the reader notices there is no evidence of human life at all in the house, the reader gets curious where they are and what exactly has happened to the family. But as you read further in the story, there are small hints here and there of what might have happened. Like of shadows on the walls of the house resembling a girl and boy playing a ball game, the dad mowing the lawn, and the mom picking flowers. Just like a real- life picture. This we suspect is what the family was doing the exact minute as the apparent nuclear bomb exploded in the city, and as they evaporate into ashes. Another example is of the setting; a whole city in ruins with a radioactive glow surrounding it. All of these examples inspire fear to the reader of the great loneliness of the robots calling out random orders and the setting showing no other evidence of life anywhere in the destroyed city of Allendale, California, year 2026.
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ReplyDeleteEffect of fear in both stories.
ReplyDeleteI will write about two stories and discuss the effect of inspiring fear in the reader. These stories are “Meteor” by John Wyndham which was written in 1956 and “There will come Soft rains” by Ray Bradbury which was written in 1950.
“There will come Soft rain” is a story written in 1950 about the future August 4. 2026. This story about the house which is empty because all family died from nuclear bomb. However the author is showing the house alive and without people, by putting in it modern technology which is programmed to make easier life for people. "Metal throat which digested and flushed food away" "The attic brain", mice which were cleaning floor.
“Meteor” is a story written by John Wyndham and it’s about two planets Forta and Earth. So “Meteor” split into two parts first about aliens which were looking for a better place to live than Forta and humans on Earth which found spaceship from Forta.
These two stories are giving us different types of fear. In the first story “there will come soft rains” we can see that house is empty and it’s staying alone in the town in the ashes after a nuclear bomb. It’s already spooky because some questions coming into the mind Why this house is the only one in the town? Why it wasn’t destroyed after that bomb? And many more. After author describes house we can see that its really modern and nice programmed. However this story was written in 1950 so some people could be scared of that new technology at that time. Also author using personifications like “fire was lying in beds” or “attic brain” by that Ray Bradbury was making house alive and it a bit scary. In that house were many robots like the main huge robot clock, mice which were cleaning house. I would be scared of that because I think robots can go out of control and do something dangerous to people.
Second story is”Meteor” it has its own fear effects. Like it telling us about Forta which we don’t really know . Later we discover that it’s a meteor full of aliens isn’t it scary? Also John Wyndham was saying that the they can die on that planet, meteor Forta. This is sad but when aliens found another planet, Earth you don’t know what o feel because it’s your planet and home. You don’t know want to share it with anyone and also when you don’t know who really are those mystery aliens. It was getting scarier when “people” from Forts start to kill animals from Earth just because they were big and looked dangerous to them. After tat there was question from me What they would do with people? Because we, humans are bigger than cat or dog and look more dangerous to them. All aliens were with weapons that we don’t know. At the end they attacked girl with that weapon which showed that it is harmful for us. This bring fear. However they were dead because of the bag spray so it’s good news for us but we don’t really know that they all were destroyed. Maybe half of them survived and will do plan with revenge on people.
Both stories are very good. They both have interesting plots. “Meteor” and “There will come Soft rains” have many effects of fear which makes them exiting to read and I love it.
POLINA
“The Signalman” by Charles Dickens is written in first person. The narrator is a man but we don’t really know a lot about him. However, we don’t need to know about him a lot to understand what happens in the story.
ReplyDeleteWe see the story with his point of view. We share his thoughts and feelings. That helps us to understand why the narrator acts certain ways. In this story, we realize that the narrator is curious and that’s why he goes back to visit the Signalman again and again. Probably that’s something we wouldn’t have done if we were him. But in a lot of situations we feel like we were the narrator, but of course there are other moments where we think “Why did he do that?”. This makes the story so interesting. So when the narrator acts like we would have, we can easily compare us with him and then we can so easily understand his thoughts. But when he doesn’t act like we would, it makes the story more interesting.
This story’s first person narration also makes the story more scary because we feel how frightened the setting is and how strange the Signalman acts. The narrator also describes everything in detail and he thinks a lot. This makes us think about it, too, and then we realize that we probably think the same way, or a different way. The fact that we think about the story makes the story also more interesting.
Phrases like ‘…there was something in the man (the Signalman) that daunted me…’ or ‘His manner seemed to make the place strike colder to me…’ make us see his point of view and make the Signalman more mysterious and scary than if there weren’t the narrator’s personal comments.
Then, the ending was for us as a surprise as it was for the narrator. We knew about the same information about what was going on as the narrator.
Then the story also seems more real to us , because a narrator that doesn’t believe in ghosts is very realistic and when it turn out that the narrator was wrong, we also could imagine that the story is real. And I think that in a ghost story it is very important that the story seems real to us.
The story “How It Happened “is also written in first person. And just like in “The Signalman”, we don’t know a lot about the narrator.
He tells us the story from a time after the story already happened. So he gives us a clue at the very beginning of the story: ’I can remember some things upon that evening most distinctly, and others are like some vague, broken dreams. That is what makes it so difficult to tell a connected story.” These sentences make the story sound real, like someone was telling us this story and it really happened to him.
The thoughts and feelings of the narrator are also given and so we understand the person better. Probably if it was in third person, we would be thinking: “That character is really stupid. I don’t understand why he drove the new car in the middle of the night. That’s very unrealistic. Nobody would have done that.” However, in first person he is showing us that he loves his car and he seems to be very adventurous. When he then writes: “It was foolish, no doubt, to begin to learn a new system in the dark, but one often does foolish things and one has not to always to pay the full price for them.” This totally explains his act. Probably, we even agree with him, or we just understand his point.
Then an effect is also that we see his feelings to Perkins.
Like in the Signalman story, this ending takes us very much by surprise when we just know as much as the narrator did in that situation. He didn’t know he was a ghost, and we didn’t know it, too, until he realizes it. Stanley already died, but the narrator didn’t realize it at the beginning, so we don’t know it either. Then the narrator realizes, and we realize with him. We share his feelings, his thoughts.
CAROLiNE :)
Part 1
The story gets more exciting, surprising, interesting, logical and real.
ReplyDeleteBoth stories, “The Signalman” and “How It Happened” are ghost stories with a surprising ending. The first person narration makes it all even more surprising, and with their feelings and thoughts they build up all the spooky atmosphere. The narrator is someone we can compare with us, and this makes us feel as if we were in the story. We live through the story as we read it and the effect is much better.
Part 2
By Evita Otigbah
ReplyDeleteThe signalman by Charles dickens and how it happened by Arthur Conan Doyle are both written in the first person, this narrative gives the story various effects.
The effect of the first person in the signalman and how it happened is that the reader feels closer to the narrator (main character). It makes the story fee as if it is an interesting event your friend would talk to you about.
The first person narration also makes you think about what is going to happen, why did he do what he did and you know the main characters emotion for example in the signalman the narrator thinks to himself ‘I ultimately resolved to offer to accompany him . . . to the wisest medical practitioner we could hear of in those parts. ‘This tells us that the narrator thought the signalman was crazy and by this we understand his attitude towards the man by thinking about his words carefully.
In ‘how it happened’ we can really know what the narrator felt like for example ‘For whom I had really genuine affection’ and ‘I cried, and the words seemed to choke my throat’. The first phrase shows us that the narrator really liked the person ‘Stanley’ he was talking about. The second phrase depicts that the narrator was in shock and he found it difficult to speak like he was dreading the words he was about to say.
The story keeps you drawn in. if you start reading the story you would want to know what happened in the end. It almost makes the reader think they could ask the narrator a question like ‘how did you feel? what did you do’
The first person “I” makes you pause for a minute and consider what you would have done in that particular moment in time if you were put in that exact position.
Overall I think the effect in both stories shows quite a bit. In the ‘signalman’ it makes you think about why the narrator went down to visit the signalman, and in ‘how it happened’ you can relate to the narrators opinion on how cool the car must have looked a ‘majestic sight’ like ‘golden death to anyone who came in our path’ it makes the reader picture and have a clear image of what the scene must have looked like.
I can conclude that the first person narration bring the reader closer to the story and the action taking place in the story.
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ReplyDeleteFear, Death and lonliness are the key theme's in both "Signalman" and "There will come soft rains".
ReplyDeleteThe characters in both stories have a big effect in inspiring fear upon the reader. 'The Signalmans" main character is the signalman, he speaks in a low tone and his actions make him out to be a very mysterious man. We can tell he's very strange and mysterious when he just stops what he's doing and looks outside without saying a word, and then after that he starts to speak to the narrator once again. He is an old man who has lived most of his life down by the railway tracks in a dark and gloomy atmosphere. There was also a big tunnel which is pitch black and the sun never really shun down there. All those details make the story frightening including the setting which makes the place seem dark and lonely. Also the ghost and its actions are an obvious symbol of fear. The way it cried out warnings is quite a frighting thing especially since it is a ghost and also how the ghost knew what was going to happen in the future and the future is a very frightening thought for most so this detail could inspire some sort of fear upon the reader. In "There will come soft rains" their isnt really much of a charecter as the house is the main charecter. It is a mechanical house and it is the only thing left in that town, every human, house and animal is all gone. The thought of being alone is a very frightening thing as no one would ever like to be alone, so here we can see that lonliness is the key theme in this story. The house is programmed to do the same things over and over again each and every single day even though no one's around. The story is set in the future and as i mentioned before the future can be a frightening thought. The biggest fear is inspired when the house burst's into flames and everything is destroyed, so now nothing is left in the town. Fire is a very frightening thing to expierience so that scene/section inspires quite a bit of fear and this is the most frightening bit in "There will come soft rains" where as in
"The Signalman" the predicted death of the signalman becomes reality and death is probably the most feared thing out of everything. All in all both stories express a lot of fear between them giving a big effect of fear upon the readers.
(me and sam worked together in class due to my computer not allowning me to log on, you said this was okay)
The stories “The Signalman” and “There Will Come Soft Rains” both inspire fear in the reader since they are both ghost stories and very well written. The Story “The Signalman” was written by Charles Dickens In the year of 1866, its main themes in the story are ghosts, horror as well as mystery. Then there is the other story which is called “There Will Come Soft Rains” written by Ray Bradbury in the year of 1950, also inspiring fear in the reader when reading and discussing the story since this is a story mostly describing the future of a house in California after a nuclear war.
ReplyDeleteThe story “The Signalman” has great ways of inspiring fear in the reader, by mentioning small but very descriptive details as for example – the signalman itself! It describes the signalman as a dark, sallow man, with always a terrifying look on his face. This is most probably why the author made the signalman to be one of the many ways of inspiring fear to the reader. For example – the author would speak to the signalman normally as usual, but the signalman would suddenly stop, walk outside towards the red light and stare at it as much as possible. As well as, the narrator mentioning and describing the signalman's tone and voice, which is a quite dark low voice that is mentioned there. These examples would certainly make the reader more curious about what is happening to the signalman in order to understand the story much better.
The story “There Will Come Soft Rains” also has very good ways of inspiring fear in the reader. The main inspiration in this story is that the only characters in this story are mainly robots in a big empty mechanical house, by this I mean that the house is programmed to do every day basic routine things, things like washing the dishes, make food etc. This thought brings loneliness to the mind of ours. Since we are most probably not used to being served by robots, however you can never know what these people were really since they probably exploded on the spot while the mother was plucking flowers and the other part of the family was doing their own thing somewhere outside of the house. But since the robots are programmed to do things that they need to do and since they are also not human beings, they can never know the fact that the owners of the big empty house are really, dead. And will probably not find out until they run about of energy or what so ever. In my opinion, this also brings a quite inspiring fear thought.
By Christina Lomakina
Prose Fiction
ReplyDeleteHow it Happened is a very unique story written by Arthur Conan Doyle, as for it deals with ghosts and the supernatural. In how it happens the writer is not a normal person but he is a ghost. He is a dead person who is replaying the accident that caused him his death. Hi is a dead person who is replaying the accident that caused him his death. When the writer/the ghost talks about his past, he remembers everything, from the beginning of the accident to when he dies. He does not use the third person but he uses the first person to talk.
When the writer talks about the beginning you would think he was a normal living human being. This is because he talks like nothing had happened. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the story to make it seem like the narrator was living, so that it would give a dramatic effect at the end of the story.
In the end of How It Happened the narrator is confused. He realizes his friend is dead and suddenly he is full of fear. This gives the story a spooky effect. The fact that the narrator is talking as a dead man doesn’t occur to you until the last moment. This gives the story more of a meaning it makes it less real and more abnormal. This scares you and makes you wonder about how a dead man wrote the story giving it a dramatic effect.
In the story Meteor there are 2 narrators. One is a man on Earth who is writing normally about the day what went on and the second is a first person narration by the Journal of Onns.
In the Extract from Onns’s Journal the author is showing that not only is there another civilization, but there is also another world. He explains every detail of the story of when they land on this big blue planet carefully. This gives the story a bit of life, but when the story continues you realize that Onns left out a lot of information. This information gave a huge dramatic effect and a huge suspense. He forgot to include the name of the planet. With this detail we, the reader would have been able to understand what was going on and would have interpreted the story in a much simpler way. This is a crucial detail also gave the story some energy and excitement.
In the Extract of Onns’s Journal, Onns talks about the trip and another story. He is telling the story of his people whilst the humans are talking about their people and lives. There are 2 different stories with absolutely different ways of saying them.
The story of the human’s is normal, its like a normal day for them, at home relaxing, when somebody finds a meteor, but Onns’s journal is different. It is an adventure for his people. The journal is more formal whilst the human story is all in the way the humans would speak, like relaxed. This gives the story energy, excitement and suspense.
“The Signalman” and “There Will Come Soft Rains” are both stories with a fearful image, albeit a different type in each story.
ReplyDelete“The signalman” by Charles Dickens, is set in a spooky place to start off with. The narrator’s first encounter with the signalman takes place on a night in the isolated and lonely countryside. The Signalman’s station is found in a “deep trench” with “a dripping-wet wall of jagged stone” on either side. Combined, these images give the reader a sense of fear, a feeling of an almost dungeon-like place where very little light (both literal and the metaphoric sense of ‘good’) reaches.
Before the signalman is even described he acts strangely. Instead of turning and looking up to where the narrator calls down to him "Halloa! Below there!” he instead looks at a red light near the railway line. When he and the narrator are inside his ‘cabin’ he acts oddly again. Initially he is friendly and stops occasionally to pull levers and wave flags whenever his bell rings, but twice he gets up and looks out the window as if he had heard his bell even though it hadn’t rung. This sense of spooky fear, fear for the narrator, and carries on to the next visit when the signalman tells the narrator about a ghost that troubles him. Now the fear is almost lost to the idea that the signalman is crazy, but the human deaths that follow the ghost’s appearances re-instill a sense of fear with a deathly chill.
At the end of the story, when the supernatural fear has built up to an anxious tension, it hits a short climax when the signalman sees the ghost, and turns into a sad Irony as the reader realizes the ghost was not to be feared, instead it was a harbinger of the Signalman’s own death which Dickens did very well to disguise.
“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury instills a different fear, a much wider spread fear. At first the story is anything but fearful or spooky, just a futuristic style suburban dream house in Allendale California. Soon, however, the reader starts to become intrigued and then anxious at the lack of inhabitants in the house. The house is going through its daily functions and chores, but no-one is there. The fear of death (from the lack of life) starts to creep in, at least the fear that something bad has happened. Unlike the signalman there is no supernatural presence and the story takes place in the glorious Californian sunlight.
As the focus move outside of the house, the previous fear of death is confirmed by the silhouettes left behind by the family in the charred outer wall of the house. “Here the silhouette in paint of a man mowing a lawn. Here, as in a photograph, a woman bent to pick flowers. Still farther over, their images burned on wood in one titanic instant, a small boy, hands flung into the air; higher up, the image of a thrown ball, and opposite him a girl, hands raised to catch a ball which never came down.” These lines deliver a powerful blow to the reader, as they start to form conclusions about what could have happened to the family. Some of these conclusions about the family’s death right in the middle of their suburban paradise are confirmed when the reader finds out that “At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles.” showing that the city area was most likely wiped out by a nuclear bomb. This makes the reader fear for humanity, If there were anyone else alive in the USA (or whatever it could be called in the 2050s) wouldn’t they be inspecting or testing the area?
After the reader finds out about the nuclear explosion, there is the final climax as nature ‘attacks’ the house by dropping a tree onto it causing a huge electrical fire which burns down all but one part of the house, the last wall is left alone repeating the same message over and over. In “There Will Come Soft Rains” the reader fears for humanity as a whole, whereas the Signal man has a more horrific supernatural fear.
In ‘The Signalman’ the writer uses lots of different vocabulary to scare the reader. He uses words and phrases like ‘Dungeon’ and ‘conveyed in a supernatural way’ to do this.
ReplyDeleteIn ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’ the writer uses suspense and keeps you out of knowledge, he leaves you to figure out what has happened but after you know, it doesn’t seem very scary as your mind can’t wander to many different things that could have happened.
‘The Signalman’ gives you a much stronger scary feeling throughout the whole story. He doesn’t reveal anything, not even at the very end. You are left to figure it out yourself, while in ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’ you feel more suspense than fear, and the only part that might seems scary, is the fire at the end, but you know that no one is in danger so it doesn’t feel very scary.
In ‘The Signalman’ whatever the Signalman says, when he actually speaks, brings suspense but the writer barely includes his speech. The author of ‘The Signalman’ uses the little speech in his story to strike up fear in the reader. While the author of ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’ cannot use any speech as there are no characters, only the computer saying it’s few lines.
In ‘How It Happened’ the author uses first person narration to allow for a more personal feel. It allows you to see what the narrator thinks, of Perkins and about the situation. If he has used the third person he wouldn’t have been able to use such a personal effect.
In ‘The Taste of Watermelon’ the writer uses the first person to; again, create a very personal effect with lots of insight into the main character. It surely wouldn’t have had such a personal effect with the third person, especially because it is a teenager talking about himself.
In ‘How It Happened’ when the narrator calls out, before he realizes he is dead, the first person makes it possible for him to do this. The author uses the first person to let the story develop and flow well.
Examtastic. :D
Prooose ^_^
ReplyDeleteIn the "Signalman", we first get a good idea of who the signalman looks like whereas the narrator we don't get any idea of who, or what he looks like, so using first person gives a sense of a mysterious background behind him. There is also that fact that he has just happened to come across the Signalman, but why does he want to know the signalman? "Halloa Below There" is the first thing that the narrator says, and as the story goes on the effect of the first person increases as you get the feeling that it is turning into a story that revolves around the phrase "Halloa Below There" Another effect the first person creates is that you come to think of yourself in "The Signalman" and you eventually picture yourself talking, answering and looking at the Signalman.
Part 1
Now in "How it Happened" you get the same feeling but you feel as if you are the one who gets in the car, drives, and then go through the whole out of control car. You then dread what is going to happen next as the first person drags you along in that direction, when reading "How it Happened" the first person makes it looks it its being told by another person as "I remember so well walking" and this shows it not a simple narration but another memory and a foggy one at that. The first person also creates a sense of fear towards the end as the narrator is looking at the crash and is trying to make himself heard but infact he is dead.
ReplyDeleteIn both "The Signalman" and "How it Happened" the first person is used and it is used in a similar way were in "The Signalman" uses the first person to make it feel like a memory and in "How it Happened" it is more like someone is actually saying everything that happened. The fact that both do not tell you much about the narrator, you come to think of them in your own point of view and that is a completely different effect altogether.
Blogtastic. ^_^
The 2 stories i will be discussing are "there will come soft rains" and "Meteor". "There will come soft rains" was written in 1950 and "Meteor" in 1956. During this period of time the people of America where all living in fear because they were afraid of a nuclear attack.
ReplyDeleteThe writers Ray Bradbury and John Wyndham were probablly very inspired by this.
The readed is scared or feared by the themes of the 2 stories because the stories just made them aware of waht coul happen. Wolr Destruction in both of them occurs. in "There will come soft rains" the whole world is demolished by some sort of nuclear attack and in "Meteor" the small aliens are forced to leave their planet probably because of some sort of destruction too.
in both of the stories some sort of race is killed and vanishes. this thought for a reader during the 1950s must be quiet frightening. people in those times were scared of being killed. the fact that in "Meteor" the whole race of aliens that landed on earth were illed by bug spray and that in "There will come soft rains" only robots are left which happened within a few seconds and the humans were wiped out.
the main difference between the two stories is that "Meteor" is set in the time it was written in but "There will come soft rains" is writtein in the future which is even scarier for the reader because they have that thought in their mind that they might die in the future.
Basically death is inspiring fear in the reader or bettter the "END OF THE WORLD"
Both of these stories, although written nearly one hundred years apart, have the same intention to create a scary atmosphere, with different techniques.
ReplyDelete“The Signalman” was written in 1899, so Charles Dickens used the modern technologies to scare readers at the time. One of these is the glowing red light, which the Signalman fears. He also fears his bell, and he fears them for the same reason. When the Signalman hears his bell ‘vibrating’, he can see the red light glowing, and beneath the red light is the spectre that hasn’t stopped haunting him for half a year. The ghost is responding to the deaths of two people that have died in the tunnel. The setting is given a spooky atmosphere (“His post was in as solitary and dismal a place I ever saw. 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 in a gloomy red light…”). Even the Signalman himself is spooky, being portrayed as a creepy looking man (“His attitude was one of such expectation and watchfulness that I stopped a moment, wondering at it.”). The Signalman had heavy eyebrows, and a dark beard. The final scene is the occurrence of the narrator visiting the signalman’s post but the Signalman had been killed that night, by a train. He was seen doing the actions that the ghost had been doing previously.
On the other hand, “There Will Come Soft Rains” was written in the Cold War-era, the writer taking advantage of this also. The story is set in a post-nuclear attack, the country (Presumably America) is scarred with destroyed cities, and all human beings have been destroyed (vaporized). The only surviving house is a futuristic robot house. The house is fully robotic, and is given an industrial feel, which adds towards the effect, considering that the house acts like the humans are still there, and carries on with everyday life. When we are given a description of the exterior of the house, it is found out how the people once living in the house died (“The entire west face of the wall was black, save for five places.”). the family seemed to be a typical family, of a mother, father, and two children (“...a man mowing a lawn. Here, as in a photograph, a woman bent to pick flowers. Still farther over, their images burned on wood in one titanic instant, a small boy, hands flung into the air; higher up, the image of a thrown ball, and opposite to him a girl, hands raised to catch a ball which never came down.”). A dog enters the house, sick, and dies mad, and little robotic mice move it away. The story gives the idea that we are not needed in this world, and that the world would still work on, until the house burns down (and even then, a pile of ash, the ‘house’ still carries on with its jobs.). both of these stories are spooky, but for different reasons; ghosts, and a world without humans.
I will write about the signalman discuss how the two stories have the effect of inspiring fear to the reader. ‘The Signalman’ and ‘There will come soft rains’.
ReplyDelete‘The Signalman’ is a ghost story and you see that in the story. The first paragraph is about how Charles Dickens describes the man (narrator) it is not a man above him but he is saying that it is a figure above him. And he is describing the man as a little scary because it has a low voice and he is looking at the bell but the bell isn’t ringing so it is a little vague how the man reacts. The other thing what makes it frightened that is how the Signalman describes the spirit. He is saying that something troubles him and he tells that there is a spirit and he didn’t see the face of it, and he is telling about what happens in the future when he saw the spirit he knows that there is something what is going to be happing near by the train. He is also telling about the times when there was something happening he says: ‘A disagreeable shudder crept over me’ when the Signalman looked at the narrator with fixed eyes on him. The place where the vague old signalman lives is very dark and lonely and it is by the railway in a big tunnel where it is dark and black and you see that the Signalman is very lonely. These things make it very frighten and scary because when it is dark and there was a spirit there is coming fear over you. And because the sprit knew what is going to happen in the future what we mostly don’t want to know is also a weird thing and what makes it scary. So when he tells that he is scared about what would happen the third time and then he dies makes you feeling a bit bad so he is really inspiring the fear upon a person.
In ‘There will be come soft rains’ there is no character the house is the only thing what is there. There is a big family house with only robots in it no one is in the house. The only thing about the family is that they were in the chairs on the table because there is human ash in the chairs or something of a human. That there is no one I think that there was a nuclear bomb that destroyed everything but we have to guess all that because there is nothing what is saying how the family died. The whole story the robots are doing things what an everyday routine is for the human, like doing the dishes etc. But what is terrifying is that there is no human and no animals the house is all alone and is doing all the things over and over again. Another fear is that the house burst into flames and that all the things that are still alive that that is running and screaming and that 10 voices died and then another 5 voices died etc. is very scary that what is left over that also that is going away and you read how it is happening is also frightened what makes a lot of fear in this story.
In these two stories the themes are loneliness like the signalman who is alone in the dark and the house is all alone with the robots and that is inspiring a lot of fear like also the future what then can be happening makes fear and I think that dead is where no one wants to think about and that is very frightened for the readers.
Anne-Mieke
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ReplyDeleteStories: First Person Narration
ReplyDeleteThe Taste of Watermelon
The first person narration in this story creates an effect because you will start to get into the story much more and feel as if you are the character. Especially, since the narrator was a teenager, it makes me more interested when reading it since it’s the life of a teenager. It also creates a good effect with the fact that he is risking his life, according to the narrator in some parts. This creates tension in first person because when reading it, if you get into the story you will start wondering more and more of what is going to happen to the narrator, how it’s going to happen and/or when it will occur. Another example can be when the narrator and his friends finally have this great watermelon, and don’t manage to eat it all. They start to wonder what to do with it, so they decide to stomp on it, which creates a more humorous effect in the first person’s point of view. First person also creates an effect because in the scene where the narrator is at the watermelon, but doesn’t know what to do with it or how to get it safely into the trees can give a lot of tension, as he could possibly get shot by actual shotgun shells instead of the bullets which are made out of salt. The effect that this scene creates is one that gets you thinking things like ‘Is he going to get shot?’ or ‘Will he make it out safely/alive with this extremely heavy watermelon seed?’The effect that this can all create is that you’d feel as if you are the narrator, in that very pressuring situation of a chance of getting shot.
How It Happened
1st person in this story creates an effect with tension because it is mostly a do-or-die situation since they’re in a speeding car at night going past sharp turns with luck. Also, since it is first person, and the narrator is in a car going past very sharp turns and risking his life creates an effect in first person. This effect can be described as when you are thinking ‘Is he going to make it passed that turn?’ The effect is also built up with the description of turns and situations that the writer of this short story uses. Another effect is also created because whilst the narrator is in that life-or-death situation, there is also Perkins by his side. He is a man of loyalty. This can create an effect because if you get into the story with all the tension, you might start thinking things like of what a kind person Perkins is since he stayed by the narrator’s side through the whole car ride instead of jumping out and saving his own life.
Overall, First person narration can create many effects. Another can be the remembrance of past actions, and what could have happened in that past which sort of relates or has similarities of what is happening in the short story, novel, poem, and others.
Stories (First Person and Fear)
ReplyDelete‘The Signalman’ inspires fear in the reader mostly by writing in a way that gives details about the scary things happening but does not reveal the story and why they are happening until the very end of the story. This leaves the story in a mysterious state and the reader is in fear because they want to know what will happen next. Also, fear is created when there are details of an action or character that creates a disturbing or scary image in the reader’s mind. For example ‘I never saw the face. The left arm is across the face, and the right arm is waved – violently waved. This way’ and the part where the signalman describes himself running into the tunnel and then running out faster than he ran in. All of these phrases create and image in the reader’s mind which can imply fear as well.
In ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’, fear is implied by description. The author puts a lot of description into every part and object in the story. He describes the vast empty ruined space around the house, and how the house is the only one left standing and the robots are still cooking everyday like they used to before the nuclear bomb, and how there is no one else in the house. Also, when the dog is described, it is described as being sick with ruined skin, which creates an ugly image in the reader’s mind.
How it happened
ReplyDeleteHow it happened by Arthur Conan Doyle is a short story about a rich man who goes with his handy man to buy a new car but something goes very wrong...
One of the biggest effects of this short story is the use of first person because it allows the reader to put himself into the main character which in this story is quite exciting.
But another effect of the first person in this story is it is in past tense so when the reader is reading the story he would think what they would have done.
The taste of watermelon
The taste of watermelon by Bordon Deal written in 1979 is a short story that takes place in the countryside with farmers and is about a young lad that likes a mean famers, Mr. Wills’ daughter but feels he has to challenge Mr. Wills so steals his seed melon.
Without the effect of first person in this story it would not be very interesting.
“I came by, his shotgun loaded with buckshot.”
This gives the reader a reason to keep reading because he has made his self the character and obviously will want to know what happened to him.
In my opinion first person is needed in stories like this and has a great effect using suspense as well which makes the reader keep reading.
by mike
One key way in which The Signalman intends to inspire fear is by the setting. It mentions that the mountains are jagged and wet. The setting is described as dungeon like. The idea of a tunnel carved into a mountain also gives a sense of fear and danger.
ReplyDeleteAnother way is how the Signalman actually talks. He speaks in short, snappy sentences such as 'I was doubtful whether I had seen you before'. We also get the assumption that his tone of voice sounds mysterious as it mentions that 'he answered in a low voice'. He seems to be a very isolated person from the world. All these parts put together give the Signalman a haunted personality.
As ghosts are often mentioned controlling the signal, a ghost theme is inspired. As the Signalman fears the signal, we can instantly tell that a fear theme is shown in the story. We believe that the Signalman thinks that the ghosts controlling the signal are playing some sort of mind games with him.
In There Will Come Soft Rains, a way in which fear is shown is by the fact that the family is dead. What is left is an isolated house with no voice other than the robot's brings a mystery and horror theme. This is emphasised by the fact that the house is the last one standing, there is ash and rubble everywhere else.
Another way in which fear is portrayed is when the robot attempts to murder the dog for not knowing the password. We get the impression that in the future, robots will control our lives. They will also be very aggressive to people and animals.
At the end, the house catches fire, the robot frantically tries to stop it. However, it is unsuccessful. With the new technologies in the future, we believe that the world may become more prone to events like fires.