Question

Describe the overall mood, atmosphere, or underlying idea of the following excerpts and list four words or phrases that have connotations that contribute to that mood or idea.

Skirting the pool she followed the path towards Rainbarrow, occasionally stumbling over twisted furze-roots, tufts of rushes, or oozing lumps of fleshy fungi, which at this season lay scattered about the heath like the rotten liver and lungs of some colossal animal. The moon and stars were closed up by cloud and rain to the degree of extinction. (The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy, Book Fifth, Chapter 7.)

Answer 1

This is an extremely foreboding and oppressive mood.

Hardy is warning the reader that she is headed toward trouble. He describes "oozing lumps of fleshy fungi" that are laying about like rotting organs ("the rotten liver and lungs"). Furthermore, the moon and stars and hidden, making the night dark. He describes them as hidden to the point of "extinction" -- as though no light exists at all anymore.

By this dark and frightening mood, Hardy is hinting that the path to Rainbarrow is not to be traveled.