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Describe the setting of "The Signal-Man" and the atmosphere that is created by it.

"The Signal-Man" takes place in a signal box somewhere in England. From the narrator's observations, the reader learns that the signal box is accessed via a "rough zigzag" path which passes through a cutting (an open passage for a railway). This cutting is very damp and dark and rarely receives any sunlight, as the narrator comments: 



So little sunlight ever found its way to this spot, that it had an earthy, deadly smell.



Beyond the cutting, the box itself is an office which contains the basic items needed to carry out this occupation, including a desk and a fire. The box is noted for being small and dark. 


By describing the setting in this manner, Dickens creates a gloomy and oppressive atmosphere. Moreover, by employing certain words and phrases, like "I had left the natural world," Dickens suggests that the signal box is its own world, distinct from the world above in which people, like the narrator, exist. By creating this other world, Dickens adds to the supernatural element of the story while also heightening the reader's sense of fear.

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