logo

30 pages 1 hour read

Charles Dickens

The Signal-Man

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1866

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Literary Devices

Point of View

Dickens authors the story from the narrator’s first-person point of view, so the narrator’s perspective mediates between the signal man and the reader. The narrator seems reliable, inspiring trust in the signal man through his attentive listening, and inviting trust in the reader. Moreover, he consciously attempts to approach the ghost without making immediate judgments, setting aside all “questions of reality and unreality” so that he can better understand and help the signal man (320), even though he is skeptical of the ghost as a supernatural entity.

The narrator “reads” his world carefully, providing a conscientious lens through which to approach the signal man and the purported ghosts. That even this lens proves insufficient to decode the story’s mystery underscores Dickens’s depiction of The Supernatural and the Limits of Human Understanding. Ultimately, the narrator’s first-person point of view on the signal man replicates the signal man’s position in relation to the ghost: Both are attempting to understand their subject of interest without being able to inhabit or fully know that subject.

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
Unlock IconUnlock all 30 pages of this Study Guide
Plus, gain access to 8,400+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
+ Mobile App
+ Printable PDF
+ Literary AI Tools