Question

Then my father was called; he came forward jauntily, smiling. He tried to kiss my mother, but she turned away from him. I only heard one sentence of what he said. “I’m doing all I can, Your Honor,” he mumbled, grinning. In this excerpt, how does Wright convey his father’s attitude and beliefs?

Answer 1

He depicts his father's carefree, dismissive behavior.

Answer 2

In this sentence, Wright conveys the father's attitude and beliefs by characterizing his movements, his gestures and the way in which he speaks. He uses words such as jauntily and smiling to describe his attitude as calm and careless. Moreover, he uses the word grinning to reinforce this attitude, even though he mentions that the father mumbles.