Review of “The Signalman” by Charles Dickens: Halloween Countdown

Plot:

Our hero visits a signalman in a railroad tunnel where he works, signaling trains that come through and passing messages along. He announces his presence by shouting from atop the hill, “Halloa! Below there!”

Much to his surprise, the man walks away as if he hasn’t heard him. After some more screaming, the narrator gets directions down the hill to where he might speak with the signalman. The internal passage is damp and unpleasant, but our hero makes the trek and finds his way down to the floor.

The signalman invites him into his cabin.

The narrator offers the following assessment:

“In the discharge of his duties, I observed him to be remarkably exact and vigilant, breaking off his discourse at a syllable, and remaining silent until what he had to do was done.

“In a word, I should have set this man down as one of the safest of men to be employed in that capacity, but for the circumstance that while he was speaking to me he twice broke off with a fallen colour, turned his face towards the little bell when it did NOT ring, opened the door of the hut (which was kept shut to exclude the unhealthy damp), and looked out towards the red light near the mouth of the tunnel.”

The signalman seems to be content—a job that requires attention, but no hard physical labor. He admits something is troubling him, however, and will describe it if our hero visits him again.

Notably, he asks if the narrator visits him again, not to call out. A specter once called out to him, just as the visitor had, and six hours later, a terrible accident occurred on that line. A second incident occurred. The specter has been back; false alarms ring; what is its warning? How can he prevent another tragedy?

Thoughts:

This is a poignant tale of a haunted man who witnesses tragedy but is powerless to prevent it. Adding insult to injury, no one takes him seriously. Our hero, the narrator, assumes he’s mentally ill, even while he admires his attention to his job. The signalman insists he recognizes the difference between a real alarm and a supernatural one, yet he didn’t see the narrator as real at first.

While the story revolves around the signalman, I have to ask, why did the narrator visit the signalman in the first place? He doesn’t know him. Is he curious about the train and the setup there? Had he been walking around and decided that day to let his curiosity get the better of him?

Overall, it is a tightly written little piece with a sense of forboding throughout.


Bio: Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was a UK author, novelist, actor, and editor. Among his most famous works are the often imitated/parodied “A Christmas Carol” (1843), “David Copperfield” (1850), “A Tale of Two Cities” (1859), and “Great Expectations” (1860). He achieved great popularity during his lifetime, though it was not until after his death that it became known that he had known poverty. As a child, he’d left school and been forced to work to support his widowed mother after his father’s early death. At his death, he left the novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood unfinished. Others have attempted to adapt it for the screen or complete it.


This story can be read and listened to here:(42:17)


Title: “The Signalman”
Author: Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
First published: All the Year Round, Christmas Number, 1866
Length: short story