Atmosphere

atmosphere: the emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established by the setting and partly by the author's choice of objects that are described. Even such elements as a description of the weather can contribute to the atmosphere. Frequently, atmosphere foreshadows events

"Outside, even through the shut window pane, the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything except the posters that were plastered everywhere."
                                                                                            -1984
                                                                                   by George Orwell

1984 is a dystopia, a depiction of the world, if everything were to go wrong. Orwell inserts this description to give the reader the atmosphere of the story; he wants the reader to know that the future is grim and cold, not happy and pleasant. This novel was really written as a warning; Orwell was depicting what he thought our world would be like if it continued on the track it was on when he wrote it (1940s-1950s). Orwell sets the mood to warn and hopefully turn people back to amend their ways.