The Signal-Man By Charles Dickens :: Charles Dickens Signal man Essays

The Signal-Man By Charles Dickens Dickens gives a description of the railway cutting with intricate detail and encompasses it with a cloud of gloomy and a depressive mood. He associates places and objects with certain impressions which produce this large image of negative and horrifying vibes and feelings. When the narrating character has the first acquaintance of the railway cutting and signalman's box, Dickens bombards you with adjectives and depictions of a morbid and 'depressing' atmosphere. He called it a 'dungeon' which implies a sense of torture and a ghastly horrid nature. The very description of the signalman's box creates a feeling of suffocation and being trapped. 'On either side, a dripping wet wall of jagged stone, excluding all but a strip of sky; the perspective one way was only a crooked prolongation of this great dungeon;' The emphasis on the gloominess and 'forbidding' 'deadly' environment conveys the relevance to the storyline of pre-cursor of death and constant haunting and reminder of danger. Dickens also seems to always entertain the possibility of a supernatural presence. For example, the narrator had felt the dread of a following train, and when the wind 'struck a chill' to him. This allows for an interpretation of the apparent interference of a ghost in the plot like an outer world inspiration. The story throughout contains the ingredients and factors that make up a horror story, for example the chill, cold, 'gloomy', dark and 'deadly' moods, and the returning haunting ghostly figure with its repeating gesture. This is great support for the plot and it sets style and mood and adds fear and tension. The vivid interpretation of the 'dungeon' conveys the great torment the signalman was feeling inside, and shows the possible physical factors which could have psychologically affected him. The frequent indication of the solitude of the signalman, in the depressive and 'unnatural' atmosphere is