Red room and signalman

The stories, “The Red Room” written by H.G wells and, “The Signalman” by Charles Dickens were both written in the Victorian era. At that time, the short story was a popular genre as a form of entertainment. Ghost stories and thrillers were particularly popular with the Victorian readers, therefore it was essential for the authors to build tension and suspense to keep the readers interest.

“The Signalman” is a short story about a man who works for the railway company. There is also another character in this story. The Gentleman is the other character in the story. We never get to know his name. This is one way Charles Dickens built up tension, by making the Gentleman a mysterious character. We similary never get to know the Signalmans name either which adds to the mystery. Likewise we never get to know any names in “The Red Room”. This is one similarity between the two stories.

“The Signalman” is set in a dark railway cutting with a signal box at one side of the railway track. The walls were made of clammy stones. We know this because Dickens says, “It was made of wet clammy stone”. This too adds to

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