Fredricks’ In the Midst of Crisis opens with foreboding of something fearful about to happen. The tone is one of impending doom, fear of the unknown by both the protagonist and the audience. While the protagonist is focused on the rescue ship’s absence, the reader is caught up in the darkness and silence the writer’s tone and words portray. The connection between the scene and nature connects the story to the most base of human emotions, while collections of words are used throughout the preface to instill the fear that all the people must be feeling.
The opening paragraph links nature to human emotion, taking us, the readers, to our most basic of instincts. The author does this by using works such as crept, eaten, wormed and inanimate. Here we have images of the lowest of life about to overcome the scene; a base lifeform stealthily coming in to consume the good (the to-be rescued).
Fear is portrayed through words such as mesmerized, overly exaggerated, withdrawn, crisis and tension. These words paint a picture of the wide eyes on a face when someone is in complete shock of what is happening; stunned non-expressive eyes that by their very non expression express horror at what is before them.
There are three words and versions of them that are used throughout the preface. One is darkness; darkness related to the bad, the feared, the unknown. There are two “darkness” and one “darkened” words used. The second word used multiple times, is “silent.” It occurs three times in this short piece. And finally, the word “still,” “stillness” and “stiller” are all used.
The tone I use in my writing is often one of perception through humour. The use of irony and wit plays with the reader on a higher level, while enticing them to reach down to the base of where I want them to be.
Works Cited
Fredrick, Tom. In the Midst of Crisis, 1975.
