The Signalman by Charles Dickens and The Darkness Out There by Penelope

The Signalman by Charles daimon and The wickedness reveal There by Penelope LivelyComparing The Signalman by Charles Dickens and The repulsiveness OutThere by Penelope Lively is an beau ideal way of looking at two authorsfrom contrasting times and backgrounds. Dickens, physical composition in thenineteenth century, would have had a very different hearing to writefor from Lively, writing in the twentieth century. Therefore, eachauthor uses different techniques to create tenseness in the two pieces.During the nineteenth century in that location was a strong belief in ghosts andthe spiritual world revealing ghost stories around the fireplace isoften seen as a regular form of Victorian entertainment. Dickens drawson this tradition to create a short story that would have stronglyappealed to readers of that time. Lively, however, is not writing foran listening that would enjoy a ghost story as much, therefore TheDarkness Out There, is not blatently a ghost story. To capture he rreaders interests she instead uses the warfarefare and the attitudes to theGermans as a focus of concern. As Dickens lived in a time when theQueen was married to a man of German origin, war with Germany was veryunlikely. This meant he had to use an alternate progression to draw the audience into the story. For this he used the recent invention of thesteam train to pull a foothold into the readers minds. This wasalready causing a lot of misgiving so it would have been easy to takeadvantage of the reader. He uses this approach to create tension.Another way the writers create tension is by exploring elements of theunknown. They some(prenominal) do this but in contrasting ways. In TheSignalman, the unknown is explicitly explored and it is obviously aghost story from ... ...s and Lively create tension through their useof plot, denotations, style and setting. The eerie Packers Endmatches the claustrophobia enhancing setting of The Signalman.Dickens nameless characters of the narra tor and the signalman keepthe readers on edge in The Signalman, whereas Sandras naivety,Kerrys suspicious temper and Mrs Rutters seeming innocence then theabrupt exposure of true character build up tension and surprise inThe Darkness Out There. Dickens compacted plot works well to holdthe readers attention and the build up to Livelys final climax keepsher audience hooked to the end. On the whole both authors use eventsof their time well to create suspense. I feel that although Dickensappears to do this more effectively, the seeming normality yet thesense of self-consciousness about The Darkness Out There creates just as muchtension.