Suspense and Mystery in The Call and The Signalman Essay

Explore the way in which Westall and Dickens create suspense and mystery in the two ghost stories, The Call and The Signalman. The two ghost stories The Call written by Robert Westall and The Signalman written by Charles Dickens, both create suspense and mystery to engage the readers attention. The Call is narrated by a person who did not experience the events of the story but heard it from other people, and he also knew the characters. In contrast The Signalman is narrated by one of the characters in the story, and is therefore in first person. The ghost story genre has had enduring popularity over the past few centuries. It can even be found as far back as the Elizabethan era, where Shakespeare used ghosts as†¦show more content†¦As I have already touched upon, The Call opens with the narrator speaking in 3rd person. He heard the story through other people and never actually experienced the story or even was a character in it. However he does know the main characters well and therefore the integrity of his story can be questioned, The rest is hearsay, from the logs they kept. The exposition in this story is of the narrator telling the background of the story and explaining why the circumstances of Christmas Eve came to. The Signalman is narrated in first person. It is a mans (whos identity we never gain knowledge of) story of how he encountered a poltergeist. There is no exposition or beginning at all in this tale. It dives straight into the narrator being curious and asking the question, Halloa! Below there!. The reader becomes curious over who this person is, as we have no description of him or how he arrived at that place. The exposition is much more condensed than the call, as we do not even get a description of how it all began. In the call, the first sign of the peculiarities to come arises when Harry the Samaritan who is sick is determined to make his Christmas eve call, one in which he has made for decades on end without problem. This begs the question- why is he so eager to get there? He tried dosing himself with all kinds of things; swore he was still coming. Was desperate to come, another complication alsoShow MoreRelatedTension and Suspense in Walter de la Mares poem The Listeners and Charles Dickens The Signalman651 Words   |  3 PagesTension and Suspense in Walter de la Mares poem The Listeners and Charles Dickens The Signalman The Listeners is a mysterious story in the form of a poem written by Walter de la Mare. 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