Question

In a paragraph of at least three sentences, explain the mood of this excerpt from Little Brother. Provide details from the text to support your answer
We felt it first, that sickening lurch of the cement under your feet that every Californian knows instinctively—*earthquake*. My first inclination, as always, was to get away: "when in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout." But the fact was, we were already in the safest place we could be, not in a building that could fall in on us, not out toward the middle of the road where bits of falling cornice could brain us.

Earthquakes are eerily quiet—at first, anyway—but this wasn't quiet. This was loud, an incredible roaring sound that was louder than anything I'd ever heard before. The sound was so punishing it drove me to my knees, and I wasn't the only one. Darryl shook my arm and pointed over the buildings and we saw it then: a huge black cloud rising from the northeast, from the direction of the Bay. (10 points)

Answer 1

A mood of a text is the feeling that the text invokes in a reader. Here, we can feel a quiet, ominous threat ("sickening lurch of the cement under your feet"). Then, we are somewhat appeased ("we were already in the safest place we could be"), only to get to a dynamic point where the speaker describes the experience in a direct and vivid fashion ("incredible roaring sound", "the sound was so punishing").