The family use their house as a status symbol and have decorated it in a way so as to reflect their wealth. We learn this from the 'few imposing but tasteless pictures' which will probably have been chosen because they were expensive, not because they were liked. These pictures also tell us that the Birlings are proud of their wealth and think themselves to be very important but lack the good taste which is present in those who are socially superior to them. The house is described as being 'substantial and comfortable and old-fashioned, but not cosy and homelike.' This setting suggests that the family are uncomfortable with each other and therefore suggests problems. They speak to each other in a fairly relaxed manner, despite the attempts from Mrs. Birling to enforce a more formal atmosphere by correcting her family whenever they make minor errors in table manners. The champagne shows that family are joined to celebrate. Gerald is a guest at the house and so the family are all well-behaved and pleasant to one another but there are several hints that this is for show and there are problems which are being ignored. Mrs. Birling treats Eric and Sheila as if they are two small children even though Sheila is engaged to Gerald and so is a young woman. This is shown when Sheila refers to Eric as 'squiffy' and Mrs. Birling scolds her by saying 'What and expression, Sheila! Really the things you girls pick up these days!' This also shows the difference between the generations; Sheila is younger and so does not act in the same way that her mother thinks women should act. It also suggests that she is reluctant to let her children grow up because once they reach a certain age they would move away and she would live with just her husband, a prospect that she seems unlikely to look forward to. Although the audience is unaware of any problems she and Birling may have, we are given a hint later when she tells Sheila that 'When you're married you'll realise that men with important work to do sometimes have to spend nearly all their time and energy on their business.
How do the two stories "The Red Room" and "The Signalman" build up tension and suspense. ... "The Signalman" is a short story about a man who works for the railway company. ... These are not named either which ties in with "The Signalman". ... "The Red Room" and "The Signalman" are of the same genre. ... Whereas, in "The Signalman" there is a ghost. ...
Both The Signalman' and The darkness is out there' have unexpected endings. ... Dickens' story The Signalman', has many examples of different ways of building tension. ... The signalmans appearance is quite peculiar as is his behavior. ... We end up having to choose sides between the author believing the signalman is crazy and the signalman behaving crazy. ... The one time the signalman chooses to ignore the voice was the one time he should have. ...
The Signalman by Charles Dickens (Through the eyes of the narrator) In "The Signalman," the narrator meets a signalman frightened about the apparitions he has been seen. ... The signalman wonders what the apparition means. A look into how the narrator perceives the signalman, the conflict of the story and the narrator's awareness of the meaning of the signalman's apparition will help understand "The Signalman." ... Despite the first impression the signalman left on the narrator, the narrator wanted to believe that the signalman was O.K., but the signalman kept doing odd th...
The Signalman by Charles Dickens (Through the eyes of the narrator) In "The Signalman," the narrator meets a signalman frightened about the apparitions he has been seen. ... The signalman wonders what the apparition means. A look into how the narrator perceives the signalman, the conflict of the story and the narrator's awareness of the meaning of the signalman's apparition will help understand "The Signalman." ... Despite the first impression the signalman left on the narrator, the narrator wanted to believe that the signalman was O.K., but the signalman kept doing odd th...
The Signalman by Charles Dickens (Through the eyes of the narrator) In "The Signalman," the narrator meets a signalman frightened about the apparitions he has been seen. ... The signalman wonders what the apparition means. A look into how the narrator perceives the signalman, the conflict of the story and the narrator's awareness of the meaning of the signalman's apparition will help understand "The Signalman." ... Despite the first impression the signalman left on the narrator, the narrator wanted to believe that the signalman was O.K., but the signalman kept doing odd th...
'The Signalman' features a lonely train signalman who works in signal box by a railway cutting. ... In 'The Signalman', the narrator attracts the attention of the signalman by shouting "Halloa! ... In 'The Signalman', the signalman inhabits a small, "solitary and dismal" signal box. ... Whereas, 'The Signalman' ranges over a period of only three days. ... The story is based on the signalman, but the narrator is very nearly as important as the signalman. ...
English Literature Coursework Examine the settings that the writers have chosen for their stories in "The Signalman", "The Man With The Twisted Lip" and "The Red Room". ... He tells us that he finds the signalman in "as solitary and dismal a place as I ever saw". ... At the time when Charles Dickens wrote "The Signalman" (1865) the railway was a new and dramatic invention so the setting for this story was original and exciting for his readers. ... There is a great deal of mystery surrounding the signalman. ... The Signalman is found in "the cutting that was extremely deep.... was made thro...
The signalman The characters in the signalman are also very mysterious as they are in the red room, with very little background. There are two main characters, The signalman and the narrator. The signalman is a " dark sallow man, with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows," this adds to the atmosphere of the story and also makes him fit in with the setting of the story. ... The signalman seems to be more lonely and dedicated to his job. ... I think this because he walks a lot, and he really wanted to help the signalman with his troubles. ...
