Mining For Meaning

Prose Exercise 1

1) My impression of the main character is that he is very suspicious and mysterious. He is desperately trying to hide from the police. Evidence as, "He would wait until the siren sounded far off, then he would go out." This shows that he is hiding from the police. Also, he is afraid to get caught with evidence shows as "when the siren sounded so near, he had no choice but to escape and hide under the manhole".

2) I feel that the writer is effective in creating and increasing anxiety in the story as well as the within the main character. He uses phrases such as "siren sounded so near", "prolonged scream of brakes and siren brokes off" which creates a feeling for the readers to have a sense of fear within the main character, wondering if the character would get apprehended and what would happen next.

3) The mood in the text is mystery and suspense because the character uses desperate measures such as hiding under the manhole to escape and hide from the police. The story does not show the reason why the main character is hiding from the police. The passage mention that "the siren sounded so near" and "Looming above his head in the rain, a white faced hovered over the hole." It shows that the reader might be hiding away from the police for some reasons. Therefore it shows that the mood of the text is mystery and suspense.