Previous
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
Key Examples in This Side of Paradise
Book 1, Chapter 2: Spires and Gargoyles
Explanation and Analysis:
Fitzgerald fosters a wistful mood in This Side of Paradise. The emotional impact of the narrative shifts and swells with Amory's evolution as the central character, punctuated by the shaper edges of Fitzgerald's caustic sarcasm. But this wistfulness—informed by the loss of youth, innocence, and optimism that Amory feels when he enters college—is pervasive. The mood may be felt most keenly in the moments when Amory confronts, and contemplates, the unrelenting passage of time, as in Book 1, Chapter 2:
The cool bathed his eyes and slowed the flight of time—time that had crept so insidiously through the lazy April afternoons, seemed so intangible in the long spring twilights. Evening after evening the senior singing had drifted over the campus in melancholy beauty, and through the shell of his undergraduate consciousness had broken a deep and reverent devotion to the gray walls and Gothic peaks and all they symbolized as warehouses of dead ages.
Book 1, Chapter 4: Narcissus Off Duty
Explanation and Analysis:
Fitzgerald fosters a wistful mood in This Side of Paradise. The emotional impact of the narrative shifts and swells with Amory's evolution as the central character, punctuated by the shaper edges of Fitzgerald's caustic sarcasm. But this wistfulness—informed by the loss of youth, innocence, and optimism that Amory feels when he enters college—is pervasive. The mood may be felt most keenly in the moments when Amory confronts, and contemplates, the unrelenting passage of time, as in Book 1, Chapter 2:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The cool bathed his eyes and slowed the flight of time—time that had crept so insidiously through the lazy April afternoons, seemed so intangible in the long spring twilights. Evening after evening the senior singing had drifted over the campus in melancholy beauty, and through the shell of his undergraduate consciousness had broken a deep and reverent devotion to the gray walls and Gothic peaks and all they symbolized as warehouses of dead ages.
