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Metaphors
Definition of Mood
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect of a piece of writing... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes... read full definition
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis:
The mood of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is contemplative and largely tied to the emotions that a given experience or memory dredges up for Little Dog. He writes to reach "you," being his mother, Rose—a complicated woman with PTSD from her experiences in wartime Vietnam. Little Dog's feelings about Rose are complex: she physically abuses him often during his childhood, but he cannot help but try to understand her. Such messy human relationships do not lend themselves to a straightforward mood. The reader is often unsure what to feel at any given moment, as is Little Dog.
A lack of certainty is core to On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, in the novel's thematic content as well as its style. Little Dog frequently poses questions with no apparent answers, as in the following passage from Part 1:
“Where are you from,” the man asked, “a young girl like you wandering at this hour? What is your name?” [....]
Lily, she decided, for no reason. “Lan,” she said, the rice falling, like chipped light, from her lips. “Tên tôi là Lan.” Surrounding the boy soldier, the woman, and the girl is the land’s verdant insistence. But which land? Which border that was crossed and erased, divided and rearranged?
The questions of "which land?" and "which border?" force the reader to participate in Little Dog's contemplation, but do not offer an answer. Such predicaments have no straightforward solution, leaving the reader in a constant mode of instability and questioning. This mood parallels the complex emotions and existence of the novel's diasporic subjects.
Related Themes:
