The day broke gray and dull. The clouds hung heavily, and there was a rawness in the air that suggested snow. A woman servant came into a room in which a child was sleeping and drew the curtains. She glanced mechanically at the house opposite, a stucco house with a portico, and went to the child's bed.
"Wake up, Philip," she said.
She pulled down the bed-clothes, took him in her arms, and carried him downstairs. He was only half awake.
"Your mother wants you," she said.
She opened the door of a room on the floor below and took the child over to a bed in which a woman was lying. It was his mother. She stretched out her arms, and the child nestled by her side. He did not ask why he had been awakened. The woman kissed his eyes, and with thin, small hands felt the warm body through his white flannel nightgown. She pressed him closer to herself.
"Are you sleepy, darling?" she said.
Her voice was so weak that it seemed to come already from a great distance. The child did not answer, but smiled comfortably. He was very happy in the large, warm bed, with those soft arms about him. He tried to make himself smaller still as he cuddled up against his mother, and he kissed her sleepily. In a moment he closed his eyes and was fast asleep. The doctor came forwards and stood by the bed-side.
"Oh, don't take him away yet," she moaned.
The doctor, without answering, looked at her gravely. Knowing she would not be allowed to keep the child much longer, the woman kissed him again; and she passed her hand down his body till she came to his feet; she held the right foot in her hand and felt the five small toes; and then slowly passed her hand over the left one. She gave a sob.
"What's the matter?" said the doctor. "You're tired."
She shook her head, unable to speak, and the tears rolled down her cheeks.
The doctor bent down.
"Let me take him."
She was too weak to resist his wish, and she gave the child up. The doctor
handed him back to his nurse.
"You'd better put him back in his own bed."
"Very well, sir." The little boy, still sleeping, was taken away. His mother sobbed now broken-heartedly.
"What will happen to him, poor child?"
The monthly nurse tried to quiet her, and presently, from exhaustion, the crying ceased. The doctor walked to a table on the other side of the room, upon which, under a towel, lay the body of a still-born child. He lifted the towel and looked. He was hidden from the bed by a screen, but the woman guessed what he was doing.
"Was it a girl or a boy?" she whispered to the nurse.
"Another boy."
The woman did not answer. In a moment the child's nurse came back. She approached the bed.
"Master Philip never woke up," she said. There was a pause. Then the doctor felt his patient's pulse once more.
"I don't think there's anything I can do just now," he said. "I'll call again after breakfast."
"I'll show you out, sir," said the child's nurse.
They walked downstairs in silence. In the hall the doctor stopped.
"You've sent for Mrs. Carey's brother-in-law, haven't you?"
"Yes, sir."
"D'you know at what time he'll be here?"
"No, sir, I'm expecting a telegram."
"What about the little boy? I should think he'd be better out of the way."
"Miss Watkin said she'd take him, sir."
"Who's she?"
"She's his godmother, sir. D'you think Mrs. Carey will get over it, sir?"
The doctor shook his head.
17 comments:
The writer has used the adjectives gray,dull,heavily and rawness,he has given a contrast to these by using large,warm,and soft.As Sana said,the author has described the sad feelings of Philips' mother as she is giving away her child.
The writer creates mood in the first paragraph by using words such as grey, dull, rawness which creates a gloomy and depressing mood. . The separation of the boy from his mother and the emotional state of the mother makes you feel pitiful since the writer describes the child being ‘nestled’ by his mothers side. He also mentions the child being happy which makes you feel even more pitiful when he is being taken away form his mother. In this paragraph the writer creates a sorrowful mood.
I agree with Nikki here. The writer shows that the mother and her son Philip are both comfortable in each others company. Their seperation creates an oppressive mood. The writer has a very appropriate choice of words to describe the emotions which leave influences the readers mood.
as everyone has said, the writer used adjectives like gray and dull which creates a gloomy atmosphere in the beginning of the extract. this builds up to the scene where the boy was taken away from his mother. the way the writer portrayed the scene was very descriptive and it touched me. i felt sympathetic for the mother.
The author uses the words 'gray, dull,heavily & rawness' which gave told the reader, something bad was going to happen. In addtion, these adjectives compliment the mothers pain of having the child taken away.
Yes, this extract is fully packed with adjectives that creates a gloomy atmosphere at the very beginning. And also the sense of depression when the mothers child was taken away from her. How sad. The author used alot of adjectives which are very effective on affecting peoples emotions. There are also alot of direct speech in this extract.
This article was a very interesting one, especially in the beginning paragraphs.Firstly the few words that drew my attention in the first paragraph were,"rawness in the air", "heavily", and "dull". These few words easily created a dense mood of somber and dullness and they reveal on what lines is the article on. There was a good description of the nurs' attitude towards the child, the love of the mother towards the child e.g. when she kissed her child continuously and touched the child with deep passion. When I read the section where the mother had to give away his child I found a dul, pitiful, and deplorable ambience because of the phrases such as "She gave a sob", "Unable to speak", and "Tears rolled dwn her cheeks"
Later on the doctor prompts the nurse to put the child back to his own bed. These lines give me the feeling that the child must have had a severe or dangerous disease which should be somehow quarantined away from the rest of the patients.
The first few lines of the extract tell us that the mood is gloomy,sad and of despair. Phrases like day broke gray and dull and The clouds hung heavily give us an impression that there is no hope at all today and nothing seems to be happening right.
I would agree with everyone. I feel that this extract is filled with adjectives. The author have used lots of words like,"cloud hung heavily, grey, dull, rawness in air". These words describe the atmosphere as being dull, lifeless, dullness etc. The author also uses lots of direct speeches as well as similes and metaphors. This whole extract gives us an impression of sorrowful, pitiful etc...
The writer attempts to create a sense of gloominess by using words like 'gray, dull etc' it gives us a sense of depression, this also helps in making you feel 'sorry' for the mother after her child is taken.
In this extract the author has used many adjectives like gray,dull,heavily which creates a very depressed gloomy and opressive mood which clearly shows us the feelings of philips mother when she is letting go of her child. Overall the extract gives us a clear idea of the depressed mood
As quite a lot of us have already mentioned, the author creates a depressing mood with his choice of words such as 'dull' and 'clouds hung heavily' etc.
He describes the pitiful scene, with the boy being taken away from his mother, brilliantly as he uses the words 'broken heartedly, sob, tears rolled down her cheeks' etc.I was certainly upset when i read that paragraph and would love to know what happens next.
The author has created a mood of dismal right from the first paragraph when he uses words such as 'dull,gray,heavily'.He then moves forward and describes a very depressing scene of a child being taking away from his mother and describes her pain and her grievous situation by using the word 'Moaned'.This article is packed with adjectives.In conclusion,this article has filled my heart with sorrow & grief.
It was a nice read because the writer uses direct speech(which I need to work on!) but also he uses adjectives such as gray and dull to create an atmosphere of gloominess, which i think the author is very successfull in doing so
The writer uses loads of adjectives here[exactly what everyone wrote]. It creates a sense of gloomy emptiness. It's such a sad story even though in a short extract on how a mother's child has been taken away. What the author wrote really made me feel a sense of pity and grief for the mother even though it's just a made up story [hopefully].
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