The Signal Man :: English Literature

The Signal Man Through out the story Dickens has created a sense of horror and suspension in his description of the setting, landscape, physical surroundings and the weather conditions. At the start of the story the signal man hears a voice shouting down to him from up above, instead of looking up in the direction he heard the voice coming from, he turned himself about and looked down the line. This seems rather odd as you would normally look to where you heard the voice. The man shouting down to him, was on a high cliff and he was steeped in the angry glow of a sunset and the signal man’s figure was foreshortened and shadowed, down in the deep trench so it was rather awkward for the man to see who he was shout to. The man repeats ‘Halloa! Below!’ only then does the signal man catch on who is shouting to him, so he turns himself about , and raises his eyes and say the mans figure high above him. It then goes on to say that the signal man looks up to him without replying, and he looked down at him without pressing him too soon with a repetition of his idle question. There then came a ‘vague vibration’ in the earth and air, quickly changing into a violent pulsation. This suggests that there is a disturbance in nature, this means that the train is coming. After the train had passed, the signal mans looks up again and motioned towards a point on the narrator’s level, the man then heads for that point. As he headed for that point, he noticed a rough zigzag path notched out, this suggests that there could be danger. It then goes on to describe the setting. The cutting was extremely deep, and unusually precipitous, it is a very dismal and dreary setting. It then says that the notched out path was made through a clammy stone that became oozier and wetter as it leaded further down the cliff, this reinforces the setting to be very depressing and gloomy. As he made his way down the zigzag path, the signal man looked as though he was awaiting his arrival. He had his left hand at his chin, and his left elbow rested on his right hand, crossed over his breast His attitude was one of such expectation and watchfulness, that the man stopped at it a moment, wondering at it. This could suggest that the signal man was wondering weather the narrator was a ghost or not. The signal man had a very weary appearance; it says that he was a