Question

from \gooseberries\ by anton chekhov
the narrator recounts how his brother nikolay ivanovitch fulfills his dream of becoming a land - owner.
nikolay bought through an agent a mortgaged estate of three hundred and thirty acres, with a house for the family, with servants quarters, and there was a river, but the water in it was the color of coffee because of the brickyard and on the other a factory. but ivanovitch did not grieve much; he ordered twenty gooseberry - bushes, and began living as a country gentleman.
i went to pay him a visit. i thought i would go and see what it was like. in his letters my brother called his estate \tchumbaroklov waste, alias dymov.\ i reached \alias himalaiskoe\ in the afternoon. it was hot. everywhere there were ditches, fences, hedges, fir - trees planted in rows, and no knowing how to get to the yard, where to put ones horse. i went in to see my brother. he was sitting up in bed with a quilt over his legs; he had grown older, fatter, wrinkled.
we embraced each other and shed tears of joy and of sadness at the thought that we had once been young and now were both grey - headed and near the grave.
he led me out to show me the estate.
read the excerpt from paragraph 13.
there is always, for some reason, an element of sadness mingled with my thoughts of human happiness, and, on this occasion, at the sight of a happy man i was overcome by an oppressive feeling that was close upon despair. it was particularly oppressive at night. a bed was made up for me in the room next to my brothers bedroom, and i could hear that he was awake, and that he kept getting up and going to the plate of gooseberries and taking one. i reflected how many satisfied, happy people there really are! what a suffocating force it is!
how does the authors use of the words oppressive, despair, and suffocating affect the tone of the passage?
it creates a fearful tone.
it creates a dishonest tone.
it creates a disappointed tone.
it creates a cynical tone.

Explanation:

The words "oppressive", "despair", and "suffocating" convey a sense of bitterness and disillusionment. They suggest the narrator's negative view of the apparent happiness of others, which is characteristic of a cynical tone.

Answer:

It creates a cynical tone.