Mood and How the Character Feels

In many analyses of mood, I often see a bit of a gap in the way mood is proven. As we know, mood (as a literary element) is the reader's emotion/reaction to the text. People often try to explain this by describing the main character's feelings. This may be one of the ways the author creates mood, but if mood is what you are analyzing be sure you explain why the character's feelings have anything to do with mood. You might do this by explaining that the character is the protagonist in the book and the reader is supposed to empathise with him or her. It also helps to try to find an example of how mood is created in descriptions that are not directly related to the emotions of a character.