I remember squatting in the road drawing a picture in the dust, a picture which Joey gleefully erased with one sweep of his dirty foot. I remember fishing for minnows in a muddy creek and watching sadly as they eluded my cupped hands, while Joey laughed uproariously.

Which word best describes the mood of the excerpt above?

fearful
cheerful
surprised
frustrated

In literary works, the mood refers to the feelings the events told evoke in the reader and the atmosphere created by these that can be identified based on descriptive details, tone, the election of words, etc. In the case of the excerpt presented, the narrator describes memories from the past that the narrator drawing in the dust while another character Joey erased the drawing or fishing while Joey laughed. These details and the election of words as in "Joey gleefully erased" or "Joey laughed uproariously" show the narrator does not agree with the actions of Joey and thus, the mood can be classified as angry or frustrated.