How Does Dickens Interest and Engage the Reader in "The Signalman?"
             In this essay I am going to discuss the things that dickens writes to interest the reader and makes them want to read more of the story.
             Charles Dickens wrote the Signalman in 1986. This period of time was a time where industry was growing in Britain. There was a lot of new technology being developed and many people were interested in using the railway. Previously, a year before Dickens had written 'The Signalman', he himself had been involved had previously been in a train an accident at Staplehurst, Kent. The train had been derailed whilst going into the tunnel. Many 1st Class passengers were seriously injured. Dickens had been one of the people helping people out, once he had managed to free himself. I think this had a great effect on him writing this story.
             The Victorians were generally interested in the supernatural, so a ghost railway station would have been of grate interest.
             Also at this time there was a vast upsurge of interest in philosophy and science. Many Victorians were beginning to question things in there life and question what the y didn't know. For instance they were studying and for the first time questioning religion. Also they were trying to prove that ghosts/ spirits didn't exist, by using their new scientific theories!
             The story is set at a Railway embankment or cutting at night. There is an eerie feel and the atmosphere is dark, mysterious and creepy. There are only two main characters throughout the book. These are the Signalman and the narrator.
             The story interested me at the beginning by giving a feel of tension and suspense. At the beginning the first three words really grasp your attention and make you want to read on. It opens with a shout "Holla! Below there!" You then get this feeling that something isn't right because it says that the signalman does not respond. The narrator sa...