Day 8 P.34 - Lesson 16: Mood

3. She keeps on walking, past the apartments and cafes and restaurants that line the boardwalk. Fishermen are gathered just beyond the end of the boardwalk, unrolling nets, pulling boats out to sea.

As she passes them, she suddenly feels a pang of fear. To her relief, the fishermen hardly look at her. They look past her, out to the sea, as if they are in one dream and she is in another.

2. Kayla walks closer to the water, letting the waves lap her feet. She imagines diving in, feeling its warm salty strength buoying her up.

Her mind feels drowsy with happiness.

The mood of a passage is its emotional quality or atmosphere.

In poetry, the choice of words, the length of lines, the rhythm, and other elements all contribute to creating a certain mood. In fiction, the setting often helps crease the mood of the story.

1. Morning. The sea is calm. It has only the faintest whiff of smell. The sun, newly emerged from the water, hangs low in the sky. Small waves lap the shore, clinging briefly to the sane and then receding, as if they, too, are half asleep.

Near the horizon, the water is a light blue-green, still and smooth as glass. The sand, which just yesterday was crowded with bathers, is now bare and clean, blown smooth by the wind.

DIRECTIONS:

Read the following passage, paying close attention to the mood it conveys.

4. Now they are far behind her. All she sees is sky and sand. What a lovely morning, she thinks, but her heart is still thumping strangely. She passes a pile of soda cans and the charred remains of a fire.

She peers uneasily behind the sand dunes. No one is there. Still, the thought that someone slept here makes her uneasy. She walks faster now, kicking up sand with her wide strides.

Kayla can hear nothing but the swish of her skirt, the small sucking sound of her flip-flops. The beach is deserted.

Small gusts of breeze flatten the sand, as if an invisible hand is caressing it. Everything seems to glitter in the clear light.

They fly above her reach, still watching her from overhead. The sun has disappeared behind a cloud. Thick clouds now hang on the horizon.

The sea is the color of dulled metal. I wonder what time it is, she thinks. Suddenly, she wishes she were home.

5. Suddenly, she stumbles over a fish head, and lets out an involuntary cry. Its bulging, vacant eyes have been pecked by birds. Dozens of birds are swooping around this spot.

They surround her, filling the air with raw, rough cries. "Go away! Go away!" she cries, flailing her arms.