Question

Which sentence best contributes to the mood of hopelessness in the excerpt?

(The Open Boat, by Stephen Crane, adapted excerpt)

A- a seat in this boat was not unlike a seat upon a bucking bronco, and, by the same token, a bronco is not much smaller.

B- at the top of them were ordinarily these problems in white water, the foam racing down from the summit of each wave, requiring a new leap, and a leap from the air.

C- in a ten-foot dingey one can get an idea of the resources of the sea in the line of waves that is not probable to the average experience which is never at sea in a dingey.

D- there was a terrible grace in the move of the waves, and they came in silence, save for the snarling of the crests.

Answer 1

Answer: B - At the top of them were ordinarily these problems in white water, the foam racing down from the summit of each wave, requiring a new leap, and a leap from the air.

Explanation: Right on plato

Answer 2

B- “at the top of them were ordinarily these problems in white water, the foam racing down from the summit of each wave, requiring a new leap, and a leap from the air.”

Step-by-step explanation:

The phrases- “A leap from the air” and “ordinarily these problems” are the key phrases here to understand how it contributes to the mood of hopelessness in the excerpt. The former presents a situation that is not possible. There’s no hold in air, and to leap from it is implying that they were performing the impossible at the top of each wave, which presented such problems “ordinarily.” The understated way in which these are mentioned in fact intensifies the hopelessness of the situation. And the fact that the boat had been compared to a horse which had to “leap again” over a high fence facilitates the image that this statement paints.

To understand why the answer couldn’t be one of the other options, let us take a brief look at each of them:

Option A, though evokes an image of grave danger, it does not really convey hopelessness.

Option C emphasises the experience of that danger and the resourceful ways the sea manages to create it, which cannot be imagined or known without the experience.

Option D seems to stand in close call with option B, but though impactful, it creates the mood of fear, mystery and awe with the brilliant use of silence and sound. It doesn’t indicate hopelessness as much as option B does.