Mystery and Suspense in Dickens' Short Story The Signalman

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Recommended: contribution of charles dickens towards the development of Victorian novel

The Signalman was first published in the Mugby Junction Christmas Edition book in eighteen sixty six. The Clayton Tunnel Crash in eighteen sixty one is believed to have inspired Dickens to write the short story the Signalman. During the time that Dickens was writing the Victorians had a fixation with the paranormal also there were many technological advances one of them being the steam train. The Signalman has two main characters in it, one is the narrator who speaks in first person, and the other is the Signalman. Neither man is named throughout the story. The story has three main incidents which the Signalman claims that he had been warned of by a ghost who stood at the end of the tunnel. The Signalman is a very mysterious character. This is deliberate because throughout the story Dickens creates an air of suspense and intensity for the reader because we do not know what is going to happen from one moment to the next on any occasion. In the opening Dickens uses a narrator who speaks in the first person. This brings the reader straight into the scene, immediately catching th...

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