The mood that is created by the language in this passage is best described as desperate. The imagery of sinking, waste, and the weight of loss, combined with the longing for the comfort of swaddling, conveys a sense of desperation and hopelessness in the face of overwhelming circumstances.
Sinking and Swaddled
by Beth Gilstrap
She swore she felt the earth drop—like a hitch in an elevator—several miles from her
mother’s house. She thought of all those bedlinens agitated, curled, heaped on top of
her mother, sunk along with everything else, beams, roof tiles, the acrylic nails her
mom wore, the senselessness of waste. Her father had sunk, too. Years ago, in a
prefab home out on the lake. One day the lake rose a mite and the ground dove a mite
and from what her mother said, her father was better off down there, probably still
passed out on his leather couch. Ona had been swaddled and maneuvered into the
bow of a rowboat and, as legend tells, slept through the whole affair. Perhaps it was
this swaddling she longed for more than anything with all this terrible sinking going on.
"Sinking and Swaddled" from Deadheading and Other Stories © Beth Gilstrap.
Published by Red Hen Press, 2021.
Use the passage to answer the question.
Which best describes the mood that is created by the language in this
passage?
(1 point)
optimistic
insecure
desperate
suspenseful
1 answer