1a. What does the narrator shout when he first sees the signalman? What is the signalman's reaction?
2a. What observations does the narrator make about the signalman's abilities the first night he visits?
3a. What sight and sound troubles the signalman?
4a. Analyze the narrator's connection to the signalman's experience.
5a. Judge whether the narrator believes the signalman. Use examples from his reactions to the signalman throughout the story to support your response.
1b. Why is the signalman's action surprising?
2b. Why are these details important?
3b. Does the ending explain what the signalman heard and saw? Explain.
4b. Could this tragedy have been averted? Explain.
5b. Why does the narrator want to find a rational explanation for the story?
Ghost Story. Identify supernatural elements in this story. What effect do these elements have on the signalman psychologically? Does the end of the story explain the supernatural elements?
Setting and Mood. Where is this story set? How does the narrator describe this place when he first visits? What aspects of this setting create an appropriate mood for a ghost story?
1. Write an obituary for the signalman. Use information from the story to help you illuminate this character.
2. Write a one-paragraph review of this story. Describe your reaction to the story and why you think others would or would not like it.
3. Write your own ghost story. You might begin by choosing a setting and writing a description that creates an eerie mood.
Combining Sentences. Combine each pair of sentences below into a single sentence by changing one of the pair into a clause.
1. Dickens faced a hard childhood. He struggled to rise above his family's poverty.
2. Pip walked through Miss Havisham's ruined estate. He noticed how it had changed since the days of his youth.
3. At middle age, Dickens had acquired a wide following of readers of his novels. His novels were circulated in magazines and periodicals of the time.
4. Victorian-era London was populated with the rich and the destitute. Both the rich and the destitute filled the city's narrow, dirty streets.
5. Estella saw Pip through the evening mist. She called out his name.
Research Skills. Using your library, find the following: • Two other short stories by Charles Dickens • An analysis of one or more of Dickens' works • A collection of ghost stories • A biography of Dickens • A book about psychological disorders. You may want to refer to the Language Arts Survey 5.19, "How to Locate Library Materials" for assistance in your research.
Research Findings:
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