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ACT Reading 2.1 Prose Fiction 313 Views


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Description:

ACT Reading 2.1 Prose Fiction. Which of the following best describes the mood of this passage?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Edgar Allen Poe. Yeah, Mr. Sunshine and Rainbows himself.

00:33

Which of the following best describes the mood of this passage?

00:36

Oooo Mood rings, these were popular in your parent's days. And here are the possible answers:

00:45

Since the narrator tells us in the first few sentences that he wants revenge on Fortunato,

00:52

we're expecting something bad to happen.

00:55

Really bad.

00:56

So one thing we're sure of right from the get-go is that any word with a positive connotation

01:01

is wrong. This makes "amusing" the easiest choice

01:05

to eliminate. Hint: hardly any of Poe's stories are what

01:09

we'd call amusing. Unless you have a seriously twisted sense of humor.

01:13

(B) is a definite no. "Melancholy" is a feeling of pensive sadness,

01:19

sometimes caused by... nothing at all.

01:21

Plenty of Poe's other characters are about as melancholy as it gets, but this protagonist

01:28

is out for revenge. He's got no time for moping around.

01:32

Choice (C) is incorrect.

01:33

Poe basically invented the horror genre, making "frightening" very tempting. There's

01:38

definitely a slightly scary tone to this specific passage as well, so we won't cross this

01:42

one off just yet. "Ominous" describes the sense that something

01:46

bad is about to happen.

01:47

Think of the moment before you tossed your clock radio into the bath.

01:51

"Ominous" better describes the feeling of tension in the passage than "frightening."

01:55

The frightening part comes later...

01:57

Especially when you're hanging out with Poe.

01:59

So the answer is (A) Ominous.

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