She looked into the distance, and the old
terror flamed up for an instant, then sank again. Edna heard her father’s
voice and her sister Margaret’s. She heard the barking of an old dog that
was chained to the sycamore tree. The spurs of the cavalry officer changed as
he walked across the porch. There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air.
n Kate Chopin, The Awakening
Discussion Questions:
1. Although the narrator “looks into
the distance,” the images are primarily auditory. What are the auditory
images in the passage? What mood do these images create?
2. The last sentence of this passage contains
an olfactory image (the musky odor of pinks fill the air). What effect does the
use of an olfactory image, after a series of auditory images, have on the reader?
Apply:
Write a paragraph in which you create
a scene through auditory imagery. The purpose of your paragraph is to create
a calm, peaceful mood. Use one olfactory image to enhance the mood created by
auditory imagery.