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other foot passengers have been slipping and and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog giant “Megalosaurus” at the outset, for instance, is clearly hyperbole. Why would 1
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sliding since the day broke (if this day ever drooping on the gunwales of barges and small Dickens include that — what does it mean about the setting? And while the
broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon boats. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient presence of fog in general isn’t totally out of place for a street in London, the way chapter 1
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crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides that Dickens personifies it as cruel, overpowering, even sinister is definitely
to the pavement, and accumulating at compound of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the hyperbolic. When you consider the specific setting — a street where a court of
interest. afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in justice is located — the exaggerated description of fog takes on other possibilities.
Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and Why not bright sunshine to signal the clarity that justice is supposed to bring?
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flows among green aits and meadows; fog down fingers of his shivering little ’prentice boy on deck. Perhaps Dickens is suggesting that what initially seems contradictory — the
the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of Chance people on the bridges peeping over the murkiness, the difficulty in seeing clearly near a place where truth should rule — is CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING
shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round the reality: a system of justice that is not just. This would be a paradox: a statement You may wish to review the definition of
Analyzing Short Fiction
eview the definition of
ou may wish to r
Y
(and dirty) city. Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on them, as if they were up in a balloon and hanging or situation that seems contradictory but actually reveals a surprising truth. a paradox with students, and ask them
a paradox with students, and ask them
the Kentish heights. Fog creeping into the in the misty clouds. Since tone and mood are matters of interpretation based on to brainstorm other possible paradoxical
© Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.
to brainstorm other possible paradoxical
cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards 1853
situations — especially as it relates to the
evidence in a text, let’s step back and consider what we’ve just ® Section 2 / Close Reading: Analyzing Literary Elements and Techniques situations — especially as it r elates to the
function of setting. What do we expect of
observed. The overall mood of the passage is melancholy, even AP TIP function of setting. What do we expect of
2 Small islands. — Eds. 3 Retirees. — Eds. Some common tone
eligious buildings,
specific scenarios like r
oppressive. As readers, we have the sense that whatever is words: anxious, bitter, specific scenarios like religious buildings,
homes, etc.?
about to come next in the story won’t be fun for the characters. bittersweet, bold, callous, homes, etc.?
If we return to our definition of tone as a narrator or character’s confident, contemptuous,
The diction in the beginning of the passage sets the time and place: the city of attitude toward a subject or idea, then how do Dickens’s style cynical, detached, hopeful,
London, in November, in weather described as “implacable,” an example of choices add up? We’re on a street leading to a place where humorous, impassioned,
personification that implies it cannot be pacified. From there, descriptions of mud and justice is supposed to be served, the Chancery Court, but indifferent, indignant,
lighthearted, mysterious,
fog take over most of the passage. Similes abound, with the mud accumulating “as if Dickens characterizes it as murky and possibly even dangerous. nostalgic, restrained,
the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth.” Soot comes out of We might describe the tone as somber, perhaps even funereal, sentimental, somber,
chimneys like snowflakes that have “gone into mourning . . . for the death of the sun.” since much of life seems obscured by fog, smoke, and mud. It violent. Remember, you
Pedestrians walk “in a general infection of ill temper.” would be fair to go even further and claim that the literary can and should use more
than just these words to
Everything that follows describes where the fog is — everywhere — and how it elements and techniques Dickens employs reveal his attitude describe tone.
insinuates itself into everyone’s lives. An unrelenting force, it is not only in the and the narrator’s toward the high court as a challenge to the
physical environment but in “the eyes and throats of elderly . . . pensioners.” very concept of justice — a suggestion with pretty sinister
Dickens repeats the word “fog” at the start of nearly every sentence, building a implications. To expand on our description of tone, it might be described as somber
sense of its inescapable nature. The syntax in this paragraph is interesting, too — all and ominous. DIFFERENTIATION
of the sentences are actually fragments. This choice could suggest the ways in Connections to World
which fog interrupts people’s everyday lives and how the inconvenience of it is
something they have to overcome. Again using personification, Dickens writes that KEY QUESTIONS Often tonality intensifies as a narrator
the fog operates “cruelly” and envelops people “as if they were up in a balloon and Interpreting Tone and Mood or speaker becomes more emotionally
hanging in the misty clouds.” Taken together, the descriptive language, figures of • On first read, how do you experience the text on an emotional level? involved in conveying their thoughts. You
speech, and unusual syntax combine to create a sense of being unable to see • What is the attitude of the narrator toward events or characters? How do you know? might ask students to consider different
ways to discuss the range of tone. For
clearly ahead, let alone around the next corner. • How do specific word choices contribute to tone? example, they may view tone as positive
As we’ve analyzed some literary elements in this passage, you’ve probably • How do the sentence structures contribute to tone? or negative integers on a horizontal axis.
noted that some descriptions at first don’t seem to make sense or fit together. • Does the mood match the tone? Does either shift over the course of the passage? If Positive and negative 1 might be “happy”
Writers often use overstatement or hyperbole to exaggerate and signal to the so, what is the effect of each shift? vs. “sad.” However, positive and negative 4
reader that something is important, often because it is wrong or out of place. That might be “ecstatic” vs. “furious.”
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