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Metaphors
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
Book 4, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis:
The mood of The Mill on the Floss is closely linked to Maggie’s moods, and, over the course of the novel, she experiences a wide range of emotions (joy, sadness, fear, shame, romantic desire, and more). That said, even as Maggie occasionally experiences positive emotions, the mood of the novel always has something of an oppressive and bleak charge. This is due to the fact that, as Maggie matures from an open-hearted and carefree child to an adult, she discovers all of the social pressures on her as a woman in a conservative community.
About halfway through the novel, in a moment of direct address to the readers, the narrator even comments on the “oppressive” mood of the story:
I share with you this sense of oppressive narrowness; but it is necessary that we should feel it, if we are to understand how it acted on the lives of Tom and Maggie—how it has acted on young natures in many generations, that in the outward tendency of human things have risen above the mental level of the generation before them, to which they have been nevertheless tied by the strongest fibers of their hearts.
Related Themes:
