Table of Contents
- 1 What is the theme of the signalman by Charles Dickens?
- 2 What does the signalman admit to the narrator on their first meeting?
- 3 How does the writer describe the signalman and his post?
- 4 What does the narrator find unusual about the signalman Behaviour?
- 5 What does the narrator notice about the signalman’s attitude as he comes down to meet him?
- 6 Why does he describe this as a cruel haunting of him?
- 7 What is the signal-man’s doubt concerning the narrator?
- 8 Is the signalman a ghost story?
- 9 Why was the narrator interested in the signal man?
- 10 What is the first sentence of the signal man?
What is the theme of the signalman by Charles Dickens?
Responsibility. A major theme in ”The Signal-Man” is responsibility. The signalman is haunted not only by his own future ghost but by his duty to protect train passengers, conductors, and other crewmen on his line.
What does the signalman admit to the narrator on their first meeting?
It is during their first meeting that the signalman reveals his background and education to the narrator.
How does the writer describe the signalman and his post?
Expert Answers In Dickens’ story, the signalman is described from the perspective of his male visitor. Physically, he is a “dark, sallow” man, with a “saturnine” (gloomy) face, a dark beard and full eyebrows. He is a relatively well-educated person, having been a student of natural philosophy in this youth.
Is the narrator the signalman in the signal man?
The narrator describes the signalman as having dark hair, eyebrows, and beard; his skin is sallow. Though the gloomy man performs his job with care and exactness, he is disturbed by the repeated appearance of a figure who presages violent accidents on the rail line.
What is the resolution of the signal-man?
It was the mental torture of a conscientious man, oppressed beyond endurance by an unintelligible responsibility involving life. This meeting closes with the narrator’s resolution to prove the signalman’s state of mind by involving a highly-respected doctor.
What does the narrator find unusual about the signalman Behaviour?
The signal-man tells the narrator that each time the spectre, or ghost, appears, it means a terrible train accident will follow. This explains the signal-man’s strange behavior in looking down the railway tracks rather than upwards when the narrator called to him.
What does the narrator notice about the signalman’s attitude as he comes down to meet him?
Then, however, the narrator detects a hidden fear, a dread almost, in the signalman’s eyes which “put the monstrous thought to flight.” After asking the signalman why he has reacted so, the man replies, “I was doubtful whether I had seen you before.” And, as they converse the narrator reveals that he comes to realize …
Why does he describe this as a cruel haunting of him?
The signalman suspects that this third ghostly sighting is designed to warn him of another impending accident but he is unable to decipher the ghost’s message, prompting him to call it a “cruel haunting.” He desperately wants to understand the meaning, to try and prevent an accident but is unable to do so.
How does the narrator feel after leaving the signalman following his second visit?
After his second visit, the narrator feels very concerned for the emotional and psychological well-being of the signalman. Note, for example, that the narrator offers to spend the night in the signal box but that the signalman will not hear of it.
What is the signal-man doubt concerning the narrator?
‘The Signal-Man’ (1866) is a short story by the English writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870). In the story, a practical-minded narrator meets a railway worker who has been seeing supernatural visions. The narrator doubts the man at first, but at the story’s conclusion a strange event makes him a believer.
What is the signal-man’s doubt concerning the narrator?
The Story. ‘The Signal-Man’ (1866) is a short story by the English writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870). The narrator doubts the man at first, but at the story’s conclusion a strange event makes him a believer.
Is the signalman a ghost story?
The Signalman is a BBC television adaptation of the 1866 Charles Dickens short story ‘The Signal-Man’. It was filmed as part of the ‘Ghost Story for Christmas’ series; a sequence of short films broadcast sporadically since 1971. (In fact, it tells you exactly what happens all the way through the film.
Why was the narrator interested in the signal man?
The narrator in Dickens’s short story “The Signal-Man” is intrigued by the signalman he meets because of the man’s strange behavior. The narrator notices that “a fallen colour” seems to overcome…
Who is the signal man in Charles Dickens?
The protagonist in Charles Dickens’s short story “The Signal-man” is the signal-man because he is the character who comes into conflict with opposing forces and is affected in some way. Since the… In Charles Dickens’ story “The Signal-Man,” what are the exact words the narrator uses to greet the signalman?
What happens at the end of the signalman?
Just then, there came a vague vibration in the earth and air, quickly changing into a violent pulsation, and an oncoming rush that caused me to start back, as though it had force to draw me down.
What is the first sentence of the signal man?
The very first sentence in Charles Dickens’ short story The Signal-Man is, “Halloa! Below there!” With this opening, Dickens’ narrator proceeds to relate the story of his encounter with a railroad… Some dreadful calamity will happen, it is not to be doubted this third time, after what has gone before.