What is the main idea of the signalman?
What is the main idea of the signalman?
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 is the setting of the signalman?
Time setting The story “The Signal-Man” by Charles Dickens takes place in and around a cabin station of a railway signalman, next to the entrance to a tunnel. The action spans over a couple of nights, from the time the narrator meets the signalman up to his death.
What is the plot and conflict in the signalman?
He lives in a world that would reject supernatural explanations, and yet in his own life, he is confronted with a reality that can only be explained by an appeal to the supernatural. His entire story is unbelievable (something which he is well aware of).
What are the exact words with which the narrator greets the signalman?
What are the exact words with which the narrator greets the signalman? “Halloa! Below there!”
What is the signalman’s dilemma?
The Signalman notes his dilemma; if he was to telegraph “danger” he would not be able to give any reason why and would surely be displaced or fired, so he feels powerless to prevent a possible calamity.
How does Dickens present the signalman?
In The Signalman by Charles Dickens we have the theme of uncertainty, fear, isolation, madness, trust and respect. Narrated in the first person by an unnamed narrator it becomes clear to the reader after reading the story that Dickens may be exploring the theme of uncertainty.
How does the narrator describe the place in which the signalman carries out his work?
The railway hole is a cold, gloomy, and lonely place. The narrator describes that the signalman seems like a dutiful employee at all times, except when he twice looks at his signal bell when it is not ringing.
Which of the following best describes the place where the signalman carried out his duties?
The signalman’s work is at a signal-box in a deep cutting near a tunnel entrance on a lonely stretch of the railway line, and he controls the movements of passing trains.
Is the signal-man a ghost?
This figure is not a ghost, however; it is a man, one of a group of officials investigating an incident on the line. The narrator discovers that the signalman is dead, having been struck by an oncoming train. He had been standing on the line, looking intently at something, and failed to get out of the way.
Why was the signalman convinced that a third calamity would occur?
The signalman feels certain that a “dreadful calamity” is about to happen because two accidents have recently occurred on the railway line and each of these was preceded by a ghostly apparition which warned him of the events to come.
What does the narrator find unusual about the signalman Behaviour?
The narrator finds it odd that instead of looking up in the direction from which his voice is coming, the signal-man looks down the empty track.
Is the signalman a ghost?
