The Signal Man

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