Question

Vexed with having such a bad haul, when he had mended his nets, which the carcase of the ass had broken in several places, he threw them a second time. In drawing them in he again felt a great weight, so that he thought they were full of fish. But he only found a large basket full of rubbish. He was much annoyed.

"O Fortune," he cried, "do not trifle thus with me, a poor fisherman, who can hardly support his family!"

So saying, he threw away the rubbish, and after having washed his nets clean of the dirt, he threw them for the third time. But he only drew in stones, shells, and mud. He was almost in despair.

–“The Story of the Fisherman,”
Andrew Lange

What tone is created by the words underlined in the passage?

How do the underlined words create meaning?

Answer 1

I can’t see which words are underlined — could you tell me which phrase(s) you mean? Meanwhile, here are likely candidates and how each would shape the tone and meaning:

- "O Fortune,"
Tone: dramatic, pleading, bitter.
How: an apostrophe (addressing Fortune) personifies fate as an enemy or capricious being; the exclamation makes his appeal urgent and emotionally charged.

- "do not trifle thus with me, a poor fisherman, who can hardly support his family!"
Tone: desperate, indignant, pleading.
How: words like trifle and poor emphasize unfair treatment and vulnerability; the long complaint and exclamation build pathos and show the fisherman’s frustration and fear.

- "a large basket full of rubbish" (and "stones, shells, and mud")
Tone: anticlimactic, disappointed, bleak.
How: the contrast between expectation (“great weight,” “full of fish”) and the reality (rubbish; worthless items listed in a triad) creates disappointment; the concrete, devaluing nouns emphasize futility.

- "he was much annoyed" → "he was almost in despair."
Tone shift: irritation → increasing hopelessness.
How: the blunt, simple diction charts an emotional escalation; “annoyed” is mild but “almost in despair” shows the stakes have grown, signalling mounting despair to the reader.

- Repetition of actions (“threw them a second time,” “for the third time”)
Tone: weary, frustrated, futile.
How: repetition underscores the repeated failure and growing exasperation.

If you tell me which exact words are underlined, I’ll give a focused explanation tying tone and meaning directly to those words.