The Signalman: Metaphors 1 key example

By attributing the sound to the wind and even going so far as to compare the telegraph wires to the strings of a harp, the narrator downplays the signalman’s frightening experiences, converting terrifying screams into music. While this in part seems to be an attempt to comfort the signalman, it also shows how little the narrator trusts the signalman’s accounts. In addition, the harp is often associated with heaven, so its use here emphasizes the narrator's dissonant understanding of his surroundings, since the signalman's post was previously described as similar to hell, with its underground location, "deadly smell," and unnatural atmosphere. 

The narrator suggests that the signalman “ought to know something of the wind and wires” due to his long time in the box, and, thus, should have already dismissed the strange sounds as just being the wind. However, this belief that further time at the post would promote more logical explanations for these supernatural occurrences is disproven by how he describes the sound later in the story. After hearing the signalman’s account of the supernatural occurrence associated with a young woman’s death, the narrator compares the sound of the wind and wires to a wail. This evolution of the metaphor demonstrates how the narrator’s previously firm skepticism and optimism have been challenged. The longer he spends at the signalman’s post, the closer he comes to viewing his surroundings like the signalman and relying on his instinctual fear rather than rationalism. Spending more time at the signalman's post only heightens feelings of horror and the effects of the uncanny rather than breeding a comfortable familiarity with the environment.