Whenever we think about the atmosphere of a given piece of
literature, it can often be helpful to consider the description and, in particular, the
words that are used to describe the setting. If we have a look at the beginning of this
excellent story, it is clear that the words used and the objects that the author chooses
to include in this opening description play an important part in building up the kind of
atmosphere that dominates the story and also foreshadows what is to come. Let us
consider the opening paragraph:
It was in the clove of seasons, summer was dead
but autumn had not yet been born, that the ibis lit in the bleeding tree. The flower
garden was stained with rotting brown magnolia petals, and ironweeds grew rank amid the
purple phlox. The five o'clocks by the chimney still marked time, but the oriole nest in
the elm was untenanted and rocked back and forth like an empty cradle. The last
graveyard flowers were blooming, and their smell drifted across the cotton field and
through every room of our house, speaking softly the names of our
dead.
What is notable about
this description is the way that the phrases and diction suggest an atmosphere of death
and decay. Note the way that summer is described as being "dead," the ibis lands in a
"bleeding tree" and the flowers are variously described as "rotting" and "rank."
Interestingly, the flowers that are doing well are the "graveyard flowers," whose scent
seems to "speak softly" the names of lost loved ones. Such an opening creates an
atmosphere that immediately makes us think of death and the cycles of nature, which of
course foreshadows the way that this story will concern the death of one of the central
characters.
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