Question

Read the excerpt from Lori’s memoir project.


I look at the old photo and really consider it for the first time. How did my parents feel that fateful day? Did they express joy when they heard the news? My mother grasps my father’s arm tightly; was happiness in that tiny gesture? My father’s lips are taught and compressed together—a face he makes when waiting. What is it in their postures that makes my own heart beat faster, willing the belief that their wishes had been answered right after the camera clicked?

Which is the mood created in this excerpt?

contemplation
bewilderment
uncertainty
disappointment

Answer 1

Contemplation — the narrator is thoughtfully studying the photo and pondering questions about her parents’ feelings, which creates a reflective, contemplative mood.