A Comparison of The Darkness Out There, Shredni Vashtar and The Signalman

A Comparison of The Darkness Out There, Shredni Vashtar and The Signalman

In "The darkness out there", "Shredni vashtar" and "The signalman",

authors create an atmosphere of mystery and suspense. How do the

authors achieve this and which do you think is the most successful?

"The Signalman" takes place in and around a deep railway cutting

during the 19th century. The genre is ghost story? The language used

like 'damp stains', frozen finger tracing my spine' and 'disagreeable

shudder' shows it could be a ghost story. It is written in the first

person. The story begins with an unnamed visitor who shouts "hallao

below there!" to the signalman who works below in a railway cutting.

Dickens leaves the main characters nameless this adds suspense. He

describes the cutting as 'deep 'clammy' oozier' 'wetter' and 'earthly

dead smell'. These words suggest to us that it is a dark, dangerous

and hidden place. Dickens has used detailed description of the cutting

to create an atmosphere of mystery. "The darkness out there" the theme

is the contrast between appearance and reality, how things seem and

how things are. In this story, both time and place are very important.

The story is told from Sandra's viewpoint, but it is written in the

third person. The story begins almost like a picture postcard view of

the country - we first see Sandra walking through a forest glade. It

is almost like a fairy tale as well, a bit like Little Red Riding

Hood. There are lists of plants and birds. But in the middle of the

scene is the dark wood (Packers End) with its rumours of ghostly

voices, dreadful things have happened here and has a reputation of

evil. It is this that is the centre for mystery and suspense. Both

stories deal with the aspect of darkness and uses darkness to create

an atmosphere of mystery and suspense. Dickens writes about many

things which are unexplained like when the narrator (visitor of the

signalman) describes the signalman as being a mysterious person, which

cannot be explained whether he is human or not.