Answer:
The mood and tone in the "An Uncomfortable Bed" is humorous throughout the story. The narrator’s fear that his friends are making fun of him, and his suspicion that whatever they do is just to make a fool out of him make the story really humorous.
Explanation:
Guy de Maupassant's (1850-1893) "An Uncomfortable Bed" is humorous short story. The story is narrated in first person narrative by a rich and suspicious man who goes to visit his close friends.
The narrator makes it clear from the start that, it is going to be a funny story by saying his friends like practical jokes, and next saying he does not care to know any other sort of people. A warm reception by narrator’s friends is enough for him to fall into suspicions that something is wrong, so he says to himself, “Look out, old ferret! They have something in preparation for you."
At night when he is about to sleep in his room he narrates everything in very humorous way. For example, "I shut them with great care, and then drew the curtains, enormous velvet curtains, and I placed a chair in front of them."
And in the morning when a servant comes to him with breakfast, while the narrator is still asleep in the middle of the room on the floor, servant falls on him, “at the same time, I received on my face, on my neck, and on my chest a burning liquid which made me utter a howl of pain.”
And next when he comes to know the truth, he tells us, “had tripped over this obstacle in the middle of the floor, and fallen on his stomach, spilling, in spite of himself, my breakfast over my face”
Answer:
suspense
Explanation:
The overall mood is one of suspense. From the beginning, the narrator shares his distrust of his friends, stating “My friends were fond of practical jokes. I do not care to know people who are not. When I arrived, they gave me a princely reception, which at once awakened suspicion in my mind.” He keeps reminding himself to look out and pay attention.
The mood becomes more suspenseful as the narrator examines his room and tries to avoid their tricks. He states, “So I made up my mind to go to bed. But the bed was particularly suspicious-looking. I pulled at the curtains. They seemed to be secure. All the same, there was danger.” The room is dark, and he finally goes to sleep, only to be wakened by someone falling on him and spilling his breakfast all over him.
The mood then becomes lighthearted as the narrator explains that he caused exactly what he was trying to avoid. He states, “The precautions I had taken in closing the shutters and going to sleep in the middle of the room had only brought about the practical joke I had been trying to avoid.” They all had a good laugh about the situation.
