A Literary Analysis of

The Signal-Man
A short Story by Charles Dickens

By

Ahmed Mansur Moustafa

Junior Student
Faculty of Education
Fayoum University

Table of Content:

At a Glance
Synopsis
Themes and Meanings
Style and Technique
Characters
Setting
Critical Comment
 The Signal-Man

At a Glance
In "The Signal-Man," the narrator meets a railway signalman near the train tracks.
Distressed, the signalman tells the narrator about the apparitions that he has seen on
the tracks. One evening, the narrator returns to find that the signalman himself has
been hit by a train.

• The unnamed narrator meets the railway signalman while walking in the country
one day. He learns that the signalman has seen a number of apparitions.

• Each apparition has foretold doom. One takes the form of a man who says,
"Look out!" just hours before a wreck. A second apparition foreshadows the
death of another passenger.

• One evening, the narrator himself sees an apparition while walking past the train
tracks. He learns that the railway signalman was hit by a train that morning.

Synopsis

“The Signal-Man” describes an eerie encounter between two men, the anonymous
narrator of the story and a railway signalman. The signalman confides to the narrator
that he has seen some disturbing sights that he believes are ghostly apparitions. The
story reflects the narrator’s initial skepticism, which turns to horrified belief at the
conclusion.

The story opens as the narrator is taking a walk in the country. He sees a signalman by
the train track at the bottom of a steep cutting. He calls to the signalman, makes his
way down a zigzag path to the track, and converses with him. The signalman is
strangely fearful of the man, revealing that the man’s greeting reminded him of a
disturbing supernatural apparition he has seen—and heard—at the mouth of a nearby
tunnel. The narrator wonders briefly if the signalman himself is a spirit because of his
strange manner.

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Fayoum University
The signal-man invites the narrator to return and meet him at his signal box on the
following night. At that time, the signalman tells his visitor more about the apparition.
It took the form of a man who appeared in front of the tunnel waving desperately and
crying, “Look out! Look out!” The signalman telegraphed warnings to other stations
along the line but to no avail. Six hours later, a terrible train accident occurred. On
another day, the figure reappeared and assumed an attitude of extreme grief. A few
hours later, a woman died on one of the trains going by the signalman’s post. The
signalman is tortured by his inability to make any life-saving use of these supernatural
warnings. The signalman’s visitor considers with deep anxiety how he might help the
man but can think of nothing efficacious.

Not long after this conversation, one evening when out walking, the narrator also sees
the apparition at the mouth of the tunnel, standing with his arm over his eyes and
desperately waving a warning with the other arm. Running to the signal box, the
narrator learns that the signalman was run over and killed by a train that morning. One
of the men working by the railway tells the narrator that the signalman was standing
with his back to the oncoming train. Like the ghostly apparition the narrator saw that
evening, this man covered his eyes to avoid seeing the signalman destroyed while
continuing to wave his arm in warning.

Themes and Meanings

In “The Signal-Man,” Dickens makes supernatural beings interact with real people in
realistic situations to express concerns about human interconnectedness. His better-
known story A Christmas Carol (1843) employs the same strategy. Unlike A Christmas
Carol, however, “The Signal-Man” is a pessimistic story with a sad ending.

In “The Signal-Man,” a ghostly apparition either warns or belatedly informs a helpless

watcher of fatal tragedies. In nineteenth century fiction, the railway was often used to
symbolize anxiety about technological progress obliterating traditional ways of life and
supplanting intimate social connections with impersonal technological systems. This
anxiety is evident in “The Signal-Man” as tragedies occur despite of the carefully
constructed means established to ensure safety: telegraph signals, red lights, flags, and
bells. Dickens emphasizes the signalman’s careful attention to his duty in his faithful
adherence to routine and his constant watchfulness. Nevertheless, even when they are

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Fayoum University
conscientiously deployed, technological communications can be ineffectual in
preventing the deaths taking place on the railway. The train seems to have an
untamed power of its own, impervious to the stratagems of the people who invented
it.

Loneliness and social isolation are also prominent features of “The Signal-Man.” The
empty countryside and the steep zigzag pathway that separates the narrator from the
signalman in the story’s beginning emphasize the sense of isolation. Neither man is
given a name. Each wonders whether the other is a ghost rather than a human being.
Although there are systems in place for communicating by telegraph, there are no
people nearby with whom to share the fear and the worry—other than through this
chance encounter between the protagonists. In contrast to the characters’ anonymity
and ontological vagueness, the rushing train has an undeniable physical presence and
energy. Humanity has been reduced to isolated, ineffectual, doubtfully real figures in a
barren landscape in which only the train has power.

The supernatural apparitions are eerie but not dangerous. They do not threaten the
human characters, but their ineffectual desperation and grief are deeply unsettling.
They seem to be symbolic of human caring and empathy, an empathy that is tragically
disconnected from any real power to do well. They seem to show that although the
power and means to provide help and comfort are cut off, the desire to be humanly
interconnected and to prevent tragedy and suffering is still strong.

Style and Technique

1. The Opening

The opening of “The Signal-Man” is striking in its modernistic evocation of existential

isolation. The first sentence is a cry: “Halloa! Below there!” Instead of identifying the
speaker, the text goes on to describe the reaction of an unidentified man who hears
the voice but cannot determine its origin. By withholding the identities of both the first
speaker and the listener (the narrator and the signalman), Dickens creates a feeling of
dislocation and uncertainty that effectively communicates his theme of loneliness and

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Fayoum University
human powerlessness. The narrator’s and the signalman’s brief suspicion, that each
may be a spirit rather than a human, contributes to the eerie and mysterious mood.

In contrast to these characters’ uncertain entrance into the story, the train makes its
narrative entrance with brutal vitality. Before the narrator and the signalman can make
physical contact, the air vibrates with “violent pulsation,” and the train passes by in an
“oncoming rush” that nearly pulls the narrator into its wake. The contrasting
presentation of human characters and train underscore Dickens’s theme of
technology’s dehumanizing power.

2. The Mood and Dialogue

The steep incline that the narrator must traverse to meet with the signalman, the
zigzag path, and the foreshortened perspectives evoked in the opening scene, create a
feeling of vertiginous insecurity. This mood is further emphasized by the description of
the signalman’s station: a solitary post just outside a gloomy dark tunnel next to a
dripping wall of “jagged stone” that blocks out the sky and the sunlight.

The story unfolds mainly in dialogue that is terse and urgent, creating a feeling of
inexorable momentum toward a dreadful end. Beyond the initial description of the
gloomy location, there is very little attempt to build atmosphere through description.
The narration has a quality of reportorial objectivity that builds the reader’s
acceptance of the importance of the ghostly apparitions. Although the narrator at first
wonders whether the signalman is prey to nervous indispositions that give rise to
imaginary visions, he discovers from his own experience at the end of the story that
the ghosts have a reality independent of any individual imagination. The narrator’s
attitudinal transformation from skepticism to horrified belief persuades the reader to
gradually enter into the story’s spell.

3. The Ghosts

The ghosts, most often appearing in the form of a man covering his eyes with one arm
and waving desperately with the other, are the story’s most striking visual images.
Their anonymous desperation and ineffectual passion portray the tragedy of
technology destroying human agency and connection. By introducing ghostly elements
into a realistic setting, Dickens transforms the modern technological landscape into a

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Fayoum University
gothic setting in which horrible tragedies evade human control. This combination of
elements unifies two forms of anxiety: the ancient fear of the supernatural and the
modern fear of impersonal, implacable, heartless technology.

Characters

There are only two main characters in Dickens's "The Signal-Man," and both are
unnamed.

1. The Narrator

About the narrator, indeed, very little is revealed at all, although we can infer from the
way the signal-man treats him -- he sometimes calls him "Sir" -- that he is of the middle
or professional classes, the signal-man's social superior. We also know that the
narrator is staying at an "inn," from which it can be assumed that he does not live in
the area. When he meets the signal-man, the narrator observes that he himself was a
man who "had been shut up within narrow limits" for most of his life and now felt able
to take an interest in "great works" such as the railways. However, apart from this, the
function of the narrator is simply to present the story of the signal-man himself, and it
is not necessary to the story for him to reveal any more about his own circumstances
or character.

2. The Signal-Man

The signal-man himself is the principal character in the story, as indicated by the title.
The signal-man lives in his box by the railway line, and is described as "sallow," with a
"dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows." When the narrator first meets him, he notes
that he seems somewhat agitated. Lulling the signal-man into his confidence, the
signal-man then explains his duties: he changes the signal, trims the lights, and turns
an iron handle from time to time, but is otherwise afforded a lot of time to himself in
the hut. He has been using this time to teach himself a language, even attempt some
algebra, and was well-educated in his youth, having studied natural philosophy until he
had "gone down”—been expelled from university – and had never ‘risen’ again, or
returned to his studies. He does not regret this, however; the narrator observes that
he seems a contented man, and the signal-man allows that he is, for the most part.

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Recently, however, the signal-man has been troubled by a figure he has seen on a
railway line. The narrator in intrigued by his stories and by his company, and returns
again to speak to him, each time learning more of his tale. On his final visit, however,
the narrator finds that the signal-man has been hit by a train and killed.

3. Other Two Characters

The only other two characters in the story appear briefly at the end. They are a man
who is working on the line, taking care of the signal-man’s body, and an engine driver
who explains to the narrator how he hit the signal man.

Setting

The setting of ”The Signal-Man” is a dark and isolated site haunted by a sinister
presence, representing industrialization.

In the exposition of this ghost story, there is an atmosphere of isolation, gloom, and
anonymity. After the narrator calls to the Signal-Man to point out a path of descent
from the steep cutting overhead upon which he stands, he descends to”a solitary and
dismal …. Place …. On either side, a dripping-wet wall of jagged stone, excluding all
view but a strip of sky.”

To the narrator, the train tunnel seems like a ‘great dungeon’. The perspective on one
end is that of a ‘crooked prolongation of this great dungeon.’ On the other hand, the
gloom ends with a shadowy ’red light’ and a dismal entrance to a black tunnel, the
construction of which seems ‘barbarous, depressing, and forbidding.’ Because so little
sun strikes this area, an earthy, deadly, smell emanates from the earth and stone.

This is a lonesome place and there is a sense of existential isolation. In addition, there
is an eerie atmosphere and air of mystery created by the odd behaviour of the Signal-
Man who possesses watchfulness suggestive of a person who has seen a specter or
other from belonging to another world.

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Fayoum University
Critical Essay:

The Sense of Fear

Dickens creates a sense of fear in a number ways. Here are three.

1. Imagery that evokes desolation, forbidding, foreboding, and the supernatural

After the narrator has descended the path and joined the signal-man at his station,
he describes the place as a ’great dungeon.’ He comments on the ‘gloomy’ red light
and the

“gloomier entrance to a black tunnel, in whose massive architecture there

was a barbarous, depressing, and forbidding air. So little sunlight ever found
its way to this spot, that it has an earthy, deadly smell; and so much cold
wind rushed through it, that it struck chill to me, as if I had left the natural
world.”

The vivid sensory impressions set the scene. This is the sort of place where the
reader can easily imagine seeing a ghost.

The sense of foreboding is furthered by the narrator’s first impression of the signal-
man himself. For a moment, the narrator says,” a monstrous thought came into my
mind … that this was a spirit, not a man.”

2. The recounting of uncanny events and deadly episodes

The content of the signal-man’s story is intrinsically disturbing. For instance, when the
signal-man reaches out to the dark, mysterious, urgent figure, it suddenly disappears.
Then,

“….. within ten hours the dead and wounded were brought along through the tunnel
over the spot where the figure has stood.”

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 3. Empathy and fear contagion

Fear is contagious; we tend to become more anxious or frightened when we witness

fear in others. More generally, observing distress in others evokes empathic response.
We experience their emotions second0hand. Dickens uses this aspect of human
psychology to induce fear in the reader.

For instance, at the beginning of the story, the signal-man reacts to the narrator with
great wariness. The narrator is aware of this, noting, ‘I detected in his eyes some latent
fear of me.’ He wonders if there is an ‘infection in his mind’.

Later, we learn that the signal-man hears the bell ring when no one else can He
believes that it signals the return of the ghost. The reader is also influenced by the
fearful reactions of the narrator. For example, when he hears the signal-man’s story,
he mentions the ’slow touch of a frozen finger tracing out my spine,” and noted that a
‘disagreeable shudder crept over me’

And when he thinks he sees the ghost he again shares his immediate, involuntary
reaction with us:

“I cannot describe the thrill that seized upon me, when, close at the mouth of
the tunnel, I saw the appearance of a man, with his left sleeve across his eyes,
passionately waving his right arm.”

Even the ghost’s body language suggests anguish and distress about death:

“It was an action of mourning; I have seen such an attitude in stone figure on
tombs.”

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Ahmed Mansur Moustafa
Fayoum University