DESCRIBING TONE  What is tone?  How does diction describe tone?

Focus Question #4 Look at the last sentence in The Glass Castle: “A wind picked up, rattling the windows, and the candle flames suddenly shifted, dancing along the border between turbulence and order” (288). How is the tone of this last sentence consistent with the ending of the story?

Writing Plan 1.Explain tone, including the word choice in the quote that makes up the tone 2.Explain what happened at the end of the memoir 3.Explain how the two are consistent with each other (tone and ending)

WHAT IS TONE?  The speaker’s attitude toward the subject or audience

WHAT WORDS DESCRIBE TONE?  Words that describe an attitude Admiring Apathetic Defiant Determined Mysterious Loving Firm resentful

ANALYZING TEXT FOR TONE  What is the tone of the following passage? “Erma died during the last hard snowfall at the end of our second winter in Welch. Dad said her liver simply gave out. Mom took the position that Erma drank herself to death” (180).

ANALYZING TONE  Try this one: “So the windows stayed open. Maureen kept having nightmares of men in Halloween masks. And every now and then, when Brian and I were feeling revved up, he’d get a machete and I’d get a baseball bat and we’d go Pervert Hunting, clearing the streets of the creeps who preyed on kids” (103).

MORE PRACTICE ON TONE  “On the upside, Dad said, the house had only cost a thousand dollars, and the owner had waived the down payment. We were supposed to pay him fifty dollars a month. If we could make the payment on time, we’d own the place outright in under two years” (151).

Now you try… Look at the following sentence from The Glass Castle: Dad was watching me carefully. He passed me the vodka bottle. Although I almost never drank, I took a sip and felt the burn as the liquor slid down my throat. “‘This stuff could grow on you,’ I said. ‘Don’t let it,’ Dad said. How is the tone of this section consistent with the ending of the story?