Assignment Help (blehhh)

[Garrett]

Ok, so if anyone followed my segment in the RL AaToW thread, they would be aware of the fact my lit assignment is due Friday (which is in 35mins here ironically), not next Friday as I thought. So anyways, of course, me being me, has still not started the assignment, so I have a nice big assignment day tomorrow hovelled up in my campus's library.

Anyways, I have a short paper (1500 words ) and the question is this:

"What makes Charles Dickens' story 'The Signalman' a 'ghost' story? Does this 'ghostliness' challenge conventional notions of realism?"

Ok, so firstly, if anyone could explain what exactly realism is, that would be great. If anyone knows of some good websites in which I can look at, it would be great also. I'm having trouble a) finding a definition that is clear to me and b) finding a website that is worth using.

Also, if anyone has read this story, can you just critique my completely abridged answer (of course I will stretch it out for my assignment ).

I believe The Signalman is percieved as a ghost story due to the fact of this 'spectre'. The spectre appears and disappears, and from what has been said has no actual physical mass. This spectre also appears before tragic events happen to try and warn the signalman something is about to happen. The way the story is read can make the reader feel a lot of suspense and unease as the happenings coinciding with the spectre are unnatural to most human ways.

So yeah, if anyone can help at all, I will shower you will love and rose petals whilst serenading to you from outside your window.

By the way, for those who haven't read 'The Signalman', I suggest you do. It's a short story, and it's quite interesting.

[EofS]

It's too long since uni for me to remember much about this sort of stuff now, but make sure you look carefully at whether the question asks about "realism" or "Realism" - the capital letter makes a difference ;0) I remember a fun set of notes early on in uni with definitions of "real, the Real, realism, Realism, realist".

[AngharadTy]

Yeah, I'm with E here. Check this out if you want a realism mindfuck:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism

...so, which is it? ;)

[Garrett]

It's the small r =P. And Wikipedia just unhelpful for once. =P

[Garrett]

Ok, so I submitted it =P! I had about seven minutes to spare, so I'm quite proud of myself! A good effort on my behalf =P.