Table of Contents
- 1 How was the signalman killed what makes his death particularly disturbing?
- 2 How is the signalman’s post described?
- 3 Did the signalman die?
- 4 What does the narrator notice is unusual about the signalman’s actions?
- 5 Is the signalman a ghost story?
- 6 What did the writer find unusual about the signalman’s response to his question?
- 7 Is there a ghost in the signalman?
- 8 What is odd about the signalman’s Behaviour?
How was the signalman killed what makes his death particularly disturbing?
The signal man is killed as he is coming out of the tunnel holding a lamp with his back to an oncoming train. The driver says that he tried to attract the signal man’s attention, first by using his whistle and then by shouting out, but the signal man didn’t hear him, and the driver didn’t have the time to stop.
How is the signalman’s post described?
The signalman’s place of work is his signal box. The descent to this box and its surroundings are described in very dark and gloomy terms by the narrator: His post was in as solitary and dismal a place as ever I saw. there was a barbarous, depressing, and forbidding air.
How does the ending of the story the signal man come as a shock to the narrator?
This shock passes “in a moment” when the narrator recognizes that the light is not lit and that the man is really a man and not a ghost. The narrator, however, retains an “irresistible sense that something was wrong,” and this is justified when he is told—to his complete surprise—”Signalman killed this morning, sir.”
Did the signalman die?
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.
What does the narrator notice is unusual about the signalman’s actions?
The signal-man tells the narrator that each time the spectre, or ghost, appears, it means a terrible train accident will follow. This explains the signal-man’s strange behavior in looking down the railway tracks rather than upwards when the narrator called to him.
Do you think the incidents that happened in the story the signalman are all premonitions What are those premonitions?
The first accident involves a terrible collision between two trains in the tunnel. The second warning involves the mysterious death of a young woman on a passing train. The final warning is a premonition of the signalman’s own death.
Is the signalman a ghost story?
The Signalman is a BBC television adaptation of the 1866 Charles Dickens short story ‘The Signal-Man’. It was filmed as part of the ‘Ghost Story for Christmas’ series; a sequence of short films broadcast sporadically since 1971. (In fact, it tells you exactly what happens all the way through the film.
What did the writer find unusual about the signalman’s response to his question?
The signalman’s response is to look down the train line, not directly above, a move which the narrator finds “remarkable.”
What happens at the end of the signal-man?
Unfortunately, the man on the tracks was the signal-man, and he has been killed. The story ends with the narrator seeming to believe that some supernatural force had indeed been at play.
Is there a ghost in the signalman?
The ghost is a mysterious figure that haunts the signalman (or so he claims), always appearing by the red light near the tunnel and always covering its face, either with its hands or by waving.
What is odd about the signalman’s Behaviour?
As the narrator talks with the signal-man, he learns that the man’s strange behavior arises from his conviction that he has seen a “spectre” on the railway tracks and also emerging from the railway tunnel.
What does the narrator notice about the signalman’s attitude as he comes down to meet him?
Then, however, the narrator detects a hidden fear, a dread almost, in the signalman’s eyes which “put the monstrous thought to flight.” After asking the signalman why he has reacted so, the man replies, “I was doubtful whether I had seen you before.” And, as they converse the narrator reveals that he comes to realize …