ENGLISH TASK: REVIEW TEXT
Name: Annisa Adelina Fajri
Class: XII IPA 3
Title : The Signalman and the Ghost at the Trial
Author : Charles Dickens
Genre : Horror
Levels : Beginner
Serial Number : ISBN 979-523-612-1
Publisher : Dian Rakyat
Year : 2003
Reviewed By : Annisa Adelina Fajri
The Signalman and the Ghost at the Trial is a ghost book story which written by
Charles Dickens. The original book was published at 1866. It is one of some Charles
Dickens’s books that had been filmed. Now, the books were published and distributed by
PT. Dian Rakyat for sale in Indonesia. This book is used to help the learners at beginner
level of English. This book contains 2 short stories, the first story is The Signalman, and the
second story is The Ghost at the Trial. In this change, I will explain the second story, The
Ghost at the Trial.
The Ghost at the Trial tells about a man, George Fotherly. He had a job in a famous
bank in London. He lived in his apartment with his servant. He had no wife and family. One
day, he was reading a newspaper on is sitting room. On the front page, there was a news
about a horrible murder. After he read that news, he had a dream about the victim’s room
that he read before. When he woke up, he saw a strange thing happened in front of his
apartment. He saw a frightened man who was followed by a pale face’s man. Both of them
are staring at him. Three days later, some police arrested a man who accused as the
murderer.
Two month later, George and his servant saw a ghost in his dressing room. They
were frightened. The next morning, George got a letter from the Law Courts. He was asked
to be a member of the jury in a trial. He must stay together with the other members of jury
at night. The jury has a job to find out the fact of the case in the trial. They must discuss
about the truth based on the evidence from the witnesses. In the trial, George had some
strange experience again. First, he saw the frightened man that he saw in front of his
apartment two months ago as the accused person. And he lifted his hands up when the
judge asking who wants to be the foreman between the jury, and the last, He saw thirteen
juries in the trial. Meanwhile in the list there were only twelve juries. The thirteenth jury is
a shadow of the ghost. And he recognized the ghost face’s as the pale man’s face that he saw
two months ago in front of his apartment and followed the accused man.
On the fifth day of the trial, George realized that the ghost who kept following him
during the trial is the victim of murderer case and he wanted him to recover the fact. The
ghost wants George to prove that the accused man is guilty and must be punished. George
decided to help the ghost. And at the last day of the trial, the judge spoke to the jury. George
as the foreman told the judge about the accused man, the victim, and the witnesses. At that
time, the ghost appeared in the trial room. But, George was the only one who can see him.
When the judge finally decided that the accused man is guilty, the ghost disappeared. His
revenge has been paid.
The story told us a strange relation between the death and life people, I think it’s
hard to believe that they can make a contact. But from this story we can learn one thing, we
should help each other. However, the truth will always be the winner and the bad one will
get punishment. George character’s reminds us that we must help to recover the fact.
I recommended this book for the reader at beginner level in English. This book using
simple vocabulary and it’s easy to understand. It also explains us about the condition of the
mid-nineteenth century with some picture. Besides, the size of this book is small so it can
be brought everywhere easier than another book which much thicker.