The Signalman, by Charles Dickens; The Battler by Ernest Hemingway

The Signalman, by Charles Dickens; The Battler by Ernest Hemingway

- In what way do the two authors create and maintain interest and

suspense in their stories?

In Charles Dickens' 'The Signalman' the story starts by introducing

the main character (a railway signalman). Another character is also

introduced: the narrator. Dickens describes the signalman as a 'dark

sallow man' and as having a 'dark beard' and 'heavy eyebrows'. It

seems that Dickens wishes to portray the signalman as a dark and

ominous figure. However, he then sheds some light on the character of

the signalman. Dickens portrays him to be very lonely and afraid of

something. This is shown in the way he 'turns himself about and looked

down the Line' when the narrator calls to him. It is as if he is

expecting something unusual. The narrator is obviously telling the

story and almost introduces himself to be a very curious and helpful

character. Dickens gives us no physical description of him, but we are

told that he is a retired man who is interested in new technology:

like the railway. So I imagined him as being of Middle Class status

and intelligent. It seems he has the time to be interested in the new

technologies of the time, almost like a hobby. From some of the things

he says and does in the story, Dickens gives the impression that he is

not a very perceptive person. For example, the very opening line is

'Halloa! Below there!' This is what the narrator calls to the

signalman. He does not understand that this may be starling to the

signalman on a solitary railway line and that is why he does not

reply.

Dickens also uses setting very well to create atmosphere, as at the

two characters first meeting. The deep railway cutting is described a...

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...se, maintain it until a point and then let it go in a climax of

excitement for the reader. However, their techniques of interesting

the reader again slightly differ. For example, Charles Dickens uses

complex metaphors when describing the setting: 'a crooked prolongation

of this great dungeon'; 'barbarous air', which was popular at the

time. Even the grammatical and linguistic usage by Dickens is far

superior to Hemingway. Dickens uses colons, semi-colons etc, whereas

Hemingway rarely uses anything like that. Hemingway draws on very few

alternative words. For example, the word 'said' is used to tell us who

is speaking: 'Nick said', 'said Ad', 'Bugs said'. This is done to

suite his audience (the working class). Although the two authors have

quite opposing styles, they both use relatively the same techniques

when it comes to creating and maintaining suspense.