Compare the signal man by Charles Dickens and if she bends, she
breaks by John Gordon
Introduction
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In my essay I intend to compare the similarities and differences of
many aspects of 2 short stories. "The signal man" a pre 20th century
story by Charles Dickens and "If she bends she breaks" a post 20th
century story. By John Gordon.
They are naturally different because of their age. The signal man is
pre20th century and is typical of the style of story from that era. If
she bends she breaks is post 20th century so it has more modern words
and is aimed at a younger audience.
The stories themselves are similar in that they are both macarbre
ghost stories.
Titles
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The title to every story gives the first impression and can give clues
as to what the topic of the story is or what will happen.The signal
man is a plain boring title thay does not make people wish to read
it.If she bends she breaks on the other hand is an unusual title , it
is mysterious and makes you want to read on. But a good title does not
necessarily mean a good story. I found the signal man was a much
better short story where as if she bends she breaks seemed a better
title but it is aimed at young children, is a pretty boring story and
the plot is easy to pick up, early in the story. The signal man is a
boring title but it lets you know what the story is about without
giving away the plot. If she bends she breaks is a very intersting
title and you only know what it means when you've read the story so it
is very effective.
But "if she bends has an unusual title, it makes you want to read it,
and only when you read it do you find out what, "if she bends she
breakss" mean.
"if she bends" title, was very good, the story was not as good, in
contrast it was the opposite for "the signal man", it had a plain
title, but a good story.
Beginings and settings
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The beginning of the signal man, creates an atmoshpere of the
supernatural by, its settings.
The settings in the signal man, are descibe by dickens as very dark,
solitary, and dismal place, "his post was in as solitary and dismal
place", meaing that the signal was all alone, in a very dark, and
boring place, which is a typical setting for a ghost story
He discribes it as being "a great dungeon" dark, cold, scary, and
horrible this gives the reader the sense of pain and torture.
seem to have the best title to the kitchen” is a quote that shows a
Suspense. I know I have heard about that somewhere. Where … where? What does it mean? It is on the tip of my tongue. Well to answer that question is that suspense is a type of writing. Suspense is when the creator or author hides something till the end. For example, take Harry Potter (the whole series). They never actually find out how to kill Voldemort until the end. However, the stories I think that has the most suspense is the Landlady and Tell-Tale Heart. The authors of these books are Edgar Allen Poe, who wrote Tell-Tale Heart, and Roald Dahl, who wrote Landlady. In both stories, there were different elements of suspense. For example, in Tell-Tale Heart there is a lot of tone, mood, and imagery
On February 7, 1812, a popular author named Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England during the Victorian Era and the French Revolution. He had a father named John Dickens and a mother named Elizabeth Dickens; they had a total of eight children. In Charles’s childhood, he lived a nomadic lifestyle due to his father 's debt and multiple changes of jobs. Despite these obstacles, Charles continued to have big dreams of becoming rich and famous in the future. His father continued to be in and out of prison, which forced him, and his siblings to live in lodging houses with other unwanted children. During this period of depression, Charles went to numerous schools and worked for a boot cleaning company. This caused him
serve to allow the reader to perceive not only the story presented in front of them but
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The title of the story represents irony when the true essence of the title is completely different from what the reader might think it to be.
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life upside down but as the poem continues her emotions are leaked and the readers are able to
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