Question

Read the excerpt from H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds.

There were raised voices, and some sort of struggle appeared to be going on about the pit. Strange imaginings passed through my mind. As I drew nearer I heard Stent's voice:

"Keep back! Keep back!"

A boy came running towards me.

"It's a-movin'," he said to me as he passed; "a-screwin' and a-screwin' out. I don't like it. I'm a-goin' 'ome, I am."

I went on to the crowd. There were really, I should think, two or three hundred people elbowing and jostling one another, the one or two ladies there being by no means the least active.

How does the author use tone to create an aesthetic impact in the excerpt?

through vivid adjectives
through tense dialogue
through expert testimony
through background information

Answer 1

through tense dialogue

The urgent, clipped lines ("Keep back! Keep back!", the boy's panicked, dialectal speech) create immediacy and tension, giving the scene its dramatic, unsettling tone.