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Definition of Mood
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect of a piece of writing... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes... read full definition
Mood
Explanation and Analysis:
The mood of “Mrs. Sen’s” is depressing and bleak. The story opens with Eliot’s overworked single mother hiring the lonely recent immigrant Mrs. Sen to babysit her lonely son after school. As the story goes on, it becomes clear that these characters are struggling and doing so alone, despite the presence of the others in their lives. The story is mainly focused on Mrs. Sen (as seen through Eliot’s eyes), whose time is spent longing for her family in India, cooking traditional Indian meals with subpar ingredients, and failing to learn how to drive, all of which contribute to the depressing mood of the story.
In the climactic scene, Mrs. Sen gets into an accident with Eliot in the car, leading Eliot’s mother to fire Mrs. Sen as a babysitter and deciding that Eliot can be alone after school, meaning both he and Mrs. Sen are stripped of the one person they had for company. The final lines of the story capture the bleak mood:
From then on his mother gave him a key, which he wore on a string around his neck. He was to call the neighbors in case of an emergency, and to let himself into the beach house after school. The first day, just as he was taking off his coat, the phone rang. It was his mother calling from her office. “You’re a big boy now, Eliot,” she told him. “You okay?” Eliot looked out the kitchen window, at gray waves receding from the shore, and said that he was fine.
While Eliot tells his mother that he is “fine” with being home alone after school, it is obvious to readers that the boy is sad and lonely. This comes across in Lahiri’s sparse and unemotional writing style, as well as the description of Eliot “look[ing] out the kitchen window, at gray waves receding from the shore.” This image implies that Eliot’s inner experience is similarly dark and desolate. He is 11 years old and likely longs to be playing with friends or having company of some kind. With this ending, Lahiri ultimately communicates that loneliness and isolation are baked into the American way of life and therefore hard to escape.
Related Themes:
