1. What’s with the attitude?
TONE
What’s with the attitude?

2. Tone: The Basics 1 Tone, in General, is:
The attitude a writer or speaker takes toward a subject.
Discuss: How would you determine someone’s tone?

3. Tone
Tone is one of the most important literary skills to master because reading tone properly allows us to figure out an author’s message about life (THEME) much more easily.
Discuss: When have you misunderstood someone’s tone?
Key and Peele Clip

4. Tone: The Basics 2
Author’s diction (word choice) can give us clues as to what those attitudes might be.
All words carry emotion, whether positive, neutral, or negative. The emotion weight of a word is called its connotation.
Nuance is a subtle difference in a meaning.
Example: Childish, Childlike, Youthful
What connotation do these words have?

5. Tone: The Basics 3
An author’s tone towards a person or subject can be revealed other literary clues.
When we think about tone, we should consider:
Diction
Imagery
Details
Language
Sentence Structure and Order

6. Based on the craft choice of tone, what is Kurt Vonnegut’s purpose or theme?
Remember:
Your theme must be a universal statement
It should not be inspirational or a moral, but an observation about life or people.