The dark oppressive atmosphere which is created by the description used by Dickens in the opening of "The Signalman" to show the conditions of the railway cutting in which the signalman works uses sinister vocabulary to build a vivid impression of the insufferable conditions. The vocabulary used often contains long vowel sounds such as "oozing" and "gloomy" which creates an air of depression and evil atmosphere throughout the story. Dickens has also written The Signalman …showed first 75 words of 388 total…

…showed last 75 words of 388 total…could almost be at the gates of hell. You almost expect to see the sign above the tunnel mouth "abandon hope all ye who enter in". All this builds to make an atmosphere which suggests suffering isolation and a hellish environment in which the signalman is being punished. Dickens uses many techniques to create this unhealthy atmosphere and they work effectively in the sinister Gothic style horror story that he has created in "The Signalman".