Charles Dickens Research Paper

Essay Two – Choice A There are a number of eerie ghost stories by Charles Dickens that share many similarities. Though it may not seem obvious at first, after analyzing the plot and characters the reader can notice the similarities and differences. Charles Dickens, the author of “The Signalman” and “The Trial for Murder”, portrays how two different narrators have commonalties in the way they carry themselves throughout the stories and how they interact with the apparitions they encounter. A story by Dickens called “The Signalman” describes the interaction between a man known as the signalman, who must signal a red light whenever a train is coming, and the narrator who remains anonymous throughout the story. A website called Education Portal admits “The story doesn't provide a great deal of biographical information about the narrator, but we know that he is intelligent and friendly, and also that he is very practically- minded” (Nickol). Eventually the two characters begin to talk and …show more content…
Yet again the narrator never gets too personal with the reader and most things the reader learns about the narrator are inferred. However the narrator does admit he is not happy and tries “to make the most that can be reasonably made of [his] feeling jaded, having a depressing state upon [himself] of a monotonous life, and being ‘slightly dyspeptic’” (Dickens 252). This narrator comes off as more of a pessimist, especially in comparison to the friendly, optimistic narrator in “The Signalman”. Much like the narrator in “The Signalman”, the narrator in “The Trial for Murder” seems to sympathize for other characters, such as the man that was murdered. The narrators in these stories all react to the spirits presented differently as