Monday, September 2, 2019

The following piece of work is an analysis of the short story called Es

The following piece of work is an analysis of the short story called the signalman by Charles dickens. â€Å"The signal man† is set in the mid 19th century. The main setting is that of right beside a train tunnel where the main character the signal man stays to let trains through etc.The storyline is set mostly in the night time. The story has an eerie effect on me as a reader. While I was reading the signal man I picked up on the tense atmosphere. At one point early on in the story, there’s a moment which brought the tension to the story in a strong way. â€Å"He looked up at me without replying, and I looked down at him without repeating too soon.† I think this moment brings some tension as, it made me eager to see what was going to happen next. I also think that the silence of the signal man brings some darkness to the story. His silence made him seem like a sinister character. Charles Dickens describes him to use hand actions as well. In a strange way I enjoy how the signal man is so creepy. I think I find this, as it gives more depth to him as a character. â€Å"He pointed to the red light he had looked at†. â€Å"His manner seemed to make the place strike colder to me†. Throughout the story Dickens presents the narrator and the signal man differently. I feel the signal man is portrayed as lonely, quiet sinister character. â€Å"He had taught himself a language down here,--if only to know it by sight, and to have formed his own crude ideas of its pronunciation†. This shows that he has hardly any contact with external influences. I could imagine seeing the signal man on a frosty winter’s morning, feeling his stare, burning through my skin like a concentrated sun on paper. He works alone in the middle o... ...f the signal man, it helped me realise what Dickens meant by the certain hand gestures made by the signalman himself. Also it gave another level to the tension and the ending was more forceful as well. The ending of the story does its job well. It brings the little pieces that the story has accumulated together, explaining the truth about explaining things that I questions earlier on. Like why the signal man puzzled about why the narrator yelled "Halloa! Below there!† As well as the strange stories that the lonely signal man had spoke of. Even though the story was short and realistic, I would not recommend it to other readers. I think it has a good impact, but is not my type of book overall. It takes a while to engulf the reader, and when it does, the story is almost over. The ending is not powerful enough to change my thoughts on the story though†¦

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