TONE AND MOOD

What’s the Dif?

LET’S TAKE A LOOK…SHALL WE?!

Tone and Mood

LET’S RECAP!

Tone: How the author thinks about the subject. It’s the author’s attitude toward what they have written.

Mood: The effect of the writer’s words on the reader. How the writer’s words make us feel.

TONE

Has anyone ever said to you, "Don't use that tone of voice with me?"

Your tone can change the meaning of what you say.

Tone can turn a statement like, " You're a big help!" into a genuine compliment or a cruel sarcastic remark.

It depends on the context of the story.

MOVIE MAKING EXAMPLE

Movie makers strive to set a certain tone and mood for their work

Just like an author uses choice of words (diction) and vivid imagery to set the tone and mood, movie makers use dialogue, editing, music and lighting to establish a certain tone within their films

We will watch two trailers with very different tones-these will create a substantially unique mood for the audience (you)!

JUST WATCH…

Dumb and Dumber 1 Dumb and Dumber 2

LET’S TRY…

Mary Poppins (original 1964) Watch the clip Select three tone words that best

represent the attitude of the trailer’s creators

Let’s discuss-what did you select?

LET’S TRY THIS ONE…

Mary Poppins (Re-cut) Watch the trailer The makers of this clip are attempting to take

a classic movie, and re-cut it in a way that represents an entirely new genre of film

They use editing, music, dialogue and sound effects

They are creating a completely different mood How have they relayed tone and established

mood?

EXAMPLES IN WRITING

"Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch. I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then; but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived." - Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

CATCHER IN THE RYE

"Goddamn money. It always ends up making you blue as hell."

"Catholics are always trying to find out if you're Catholic."

"If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late? Nobody."

"People never believe you." "All morons hate it when you call them a

moron."

One of the most well known characters in all of literature, Holden Caulfield, has an undeniable tone in Catcher in the Rye.

He is sarcastic, tough, and inquisitive. He also makes poignant observations

through his rather biting tone.

SALINGER

Holden tends to speak sarcastically; however, he is making satirical statements about the nature of life.

That is exactly what J.D. Salinger's purpose was.

He wanted to write a coming of age narrative about a boy navigating through life alone and observing and criticizing the world around him.

Through the establishment of Holden's tone, Salinger does just that.

WHAT’S THE TONE?

The words hideous, wretch, and ugly all set a frightening tone that suggests possible horror or fear.

ANOTHER QUOTE

"Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world." -Frankenstein

TONE?

Victor speaks these words at the very beginning of the novel, setting an ominous mood for the rest of the tale.

Ominous-gloomy, dark, menacing

WHEN DECIDING ON TONE, ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS:

1. What is the passage’s subject, and who is its audience?2. What would you say are the most important words in

the passage? What connotations, or associations, do these words have?

3. What general feeling do the passage’s images create?4. Are there any hints that the narrator/speaker/author

does not really mean everything he or she says?5. Does the narrator/speaker/author make any jokes? If

so, are these jokes lighthearted, bitter, or something else?

6. If the narrator/speaker/author were speaking aloud, what tone of voice would he or she be using?

FOR EACH EXAMPLE:

Identify the tone What context clues are used to convey

the tone Overall mood of the sentence.

YOU TRY

Bouncing into the room, she lit up the vicinity with a joyous glow on her face as she told about her fiancé and their wedding plans.

Tone: cheerful, celebratory, happy, gleeful

Context: bouncing, lit up, joyous glow on her face

Mood: hopeful-about wedding, joyous for this girl, touched, sentimental

TRY AGAIN!

She huddled in the corner, clutching her tattered blanket and shaking convulsively, as she feverishly searched the room for the unknown dangers that awaited her.

Tone: desperate, frantic, frightened, hopeless, tense, threatening

Context: huddled, clutching, shaking, dangers

Mood: haunting, worried, scared, nightmarish

ANOTHER ONE!

Bursting through the door, the flustered mother screamed uncontrollably at the innocent teacher who gave her child an F.

Tone: angry, annoyed, belligerent, disrespectful

Context: bursting, screamed, innocent Mood: threatening, aggravated,

annoyed, cold, stressed, enraged, uncomfortable, vengeful

ONE MORE!

Drawing the attention of his classmates as well as his teacher, the student dared to experiment with his professor’s intelligence by interrogating him about the Bible.

Tone: conceited, cynical, exhilarated, self-assured

Context: dared, intelligence, interrogating Mood: anxious, irate, intimidated, nervous,

empowered

OK-ONE MORE AGAIN!

He furtively (sneakily) glanced behind him, for hear of his imagined pursuers, then hurriedly walked on, jumping at the slightest sound even of a leaf crackling under his own foot.

Tone: fearful, frantic, frightened, Context: furtively, imagined, hurriedly,

jumping, crackling Mood: scared, suspenseful

ONE MORE….LOL

Gently smiling, the mother tenderly tucked the covers up around the child’s neck, and carefully, quietly, left the room making sure to leave a comforting ray of light shining through the opened door should the child wake.

Tone: affectionate, calm, tranquil Context: gently, tenderly, carefully, quietly Mood: peaceful, joyous, touched,

sentimental, relaxed, loving

LAST ONE! I PROMISE

The laughing wind skipped through the village, teasing trees until they danced with anger and cajoling the grass into fighting itself, blade slapping blade, as the silly dog with golf ball eyes and flopping, slobbery tongue bounded across the lawn.

Tone: excited, happy, bemused Context: laughing, skipped, teasing, silly Mood: cheerful, light-hearted, playful