Question

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

Never can there come fog too thick, never can there come mud and mire too deep, to assort with the groping and floundering condition which this High Court of Chancery, most pestilent of hoary sinners, holds, this day, in the sight of heaven and earth. (Bleak House by Charles Dickens, Chapter 1.)

Answer 1

Mood: pollution, corruption, confusion, disease.

Words suggesting mood: mud, fog, thick, deep, mire, groping, floundering, pestilent, sinners.

Answer 2

The passage shows an extreme condition of evil that has never ever been seen by any one "in the sight of heaven and earth." The condition is compared and enhanced by the images provoked by "fog too thick" and "mud and mire too deep"; along with the use of "groping" that implies uncertainty and "floundering" which means with so much difficulty. Lastly, the use of "most pestilent of hoary sinners" shows the serious destruction of the violation of moral law.