Tone Book
Contents Tongue-in-cheek | True Prep by Lisa Birnbach Disdainful | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling Reflective | House of Prayer No. 2 by Mark Richard Defensive | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling Annoyed |The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown Condescending |The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown Arrogant | Bartleby by Herman Melville Indignant | Small Island by Andrea Levy Panicked | Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka Urgent | The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Tongue-in-cheek “We all know family is an accident of birth and luck...What’s also great about having a family is that you get them without doing any hard work whatsoever. Such is sadly not the case when choosing domestic employees who will fill in for you when you are busy or otherwise inclined. You will probably want a nanny who speaks English, if you wish your children to speak English. Quite a few families hire a nanny or babysitter for whom English is a second language, in order to save a bit for Posey’s college tuition. Should you consider a future career in politics, or any career for which your tax records could be summoned and publicized, you will need to hire a child minder who is an American citizen or green-card holder. You must pay her “on the books.” which means you deduct the taxes from her salary. Quite a few domestic workers would prefer to be paid in cash, or “off the books”...Whatever decision you make, feel free to blame it on your spouse.” (36) The entire passage is mock-serious, giving seemingly practical advice while mocking the people who actually follow it. This excerpt comes from a “guidebook” teaching people how to be preppy. The author includes several contradictions to illustrate her purpose, such as in the first paragraph where she says people can have a family “without doing any hard work”, but in the next sentence saying that people must go through this “hard work” in order to find someone to do it for them. These contradictions indicate that she isn’t serious about what she’s saying. In this specific example, Birnbach also mocks how rich people think they must do hard work when in fact their lives are much easier. In addition, the logic of her “advice” doesn’t make sense; children do not need a nanny who speaks English in order to speak English. If she was actually trying to be serious, her advice would’ve been logical and supported by facts or statistics. Birnbach also mocks her audience’s pompous attitude towards being born into a higher class by imitating it, and then contradicts that by throwing in the bit about having to save for “Posey’s college tuition”. It is mocking the people who are willing to pay someone so they can do less work, when they don’t have enough money to pay for a more important expense. At the very end, she contradicts her own advice by humorously saying that the decision doesn’t actually matter, because it can be blamed on a spouse.
Disdainful
“Snape was looking murderous. Possibly Lockhart had noticed, because he said, “Enough demonstrating! I’m going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you’d like to help me—” They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart teamed Neville with Justin FinchFletchley, but Snape reached Harry and Ron first. “Time to split up the dream team, I think,” he sneered. “Weasley, you can partner Finnigan. Potter—” Harry moved automatically toward Hermione. “I don’t think so,” said Snape, smiling coldly. “Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let’s see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss Granger—you can partner Miss Bulstrode.” Malfoy strutted over, smirking. Behind him walked a Slytherin girl who reminded Harry of a picture he’d seen in Holidays with Hags. She was large and square and her heavy jaw jutted aggressively. Hermione gave her a weak smile that she did not return.” (167) The narrator, Harry Potter, maintains a disdainful attitude throughout the passage when confronted with the rival Slytherins. When referring to the people he dislikes—“Snape”, “Lockhart”, and “Malfoy”—Harry only uses their last names and doesn’t mention their title or first names. This indicates his disrespect and disdain towards these characters and what they’re doing to him and his friends. He addresses only his friends by their first or full names. Harry also refers to Snape as “looking murderous”, “smiling coldly”, and that Malfoy “strutted over, smirking”. This interpretation of their body language is very negative, and is reflected in the tone of the passage. He portrays these characters as arrogant people because he dislikes them and has little respect for them. Harry also refers to Millicent Bulstrode as reminding him “of a picture he’d seen in Holidays with Hags”. Comparing a person’s appearance to that of a hag is extremely insulting and disrespectful, which is what a disdainful tone is. Harry judges her based on her appearance and lumps her into the category of all the other Slytherins, without actually knowing her.
Reflective “You pass an old outdoor pay phone where you spent many a midnight leaning into trying to make something right with someone miles away on the mainland. This is the place where your father is cast and your son was conceived but it is not home. It’s a beautiful place but you tell your wife you don’t think you need to come back here ever again. This is a place where only God knows how close you came to what could have been, and only His grace saved you from it. It’s the lesson of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the oven of the insane can Nebuchadnezzar: sometimes God saves us through the fire, sometimes He saves us from the fire, and sometimes He saves us not at all. If He doesn’t save all the special children, who does He save?” (347)
The narrator has a reflective tone in this excerpt because he is emotionally reflecting on the significance of a single place and how it has played a role in his life throughout the years. He goes through memories such as “this is the place where your father is cast and your son was conceived but it is not home”. When he says this, he is withholding all of his emotions over his tumultuous relationship with his family. Instead, he simply muses over the events that have occurred and their significance in his life. He then goes into some deep thoughts about how this pay phone is connected to God, and who God ultimately decides to save. That is an awful lot of information and thoughts to process from just seeing an old pay phone, therefore, it can be assumed that the narrator is being very reflective.
Defensive “Why did he have to go red now? Why? “Oh!” said Cho, and she went red too. “Oh Harry, I’m really sorry,” and she truly looked it. “I’ve already said I’ll go with someone else.” “Oh okay,” he said, “no problem.” ... His insides had come back again. It felt as though they had been filled with lead in their absence. Completely forgetting about dinner, he walked slowly back up to Gryffindor Tower, Cho’s voice echoing in his ears with every step he took. “Cedric – Cedric Diggory.” He had been starting to quite like Cedric— prepared to overlook the fact that he had once beaten him at Quidditch, and was handsome, and popular, and nearly everyone’s favorite champion. Now he suddenly realized that Cedric was in fact a useless pretty boy who didn’t have enough brains to fill an eggcup.” (289) After being rejected by Cho Chang for Cedric, the narrator, Harry, is quite defensive about his embarrassment and tries to recover from it by being defensive. The first sentence “Why did he have to go red now? Why?” indicates his awareness of the awkwardness of the situation. The interrogative nature of this sentence shows that he is angry with himself for going red and questioning his own control over what is happening. “Why” is italicized and emphasized in the second repetition, as he struggles to take hold of the situation. He mentions Cedric’s accomplishments, and puts himself on the same level by saying that he had been “prepared to overlook” them. This shows that Harry is still quite aware that everyone likes Cedric more than him, so he tries to convince himself that his lack of jealousy made him just as good. Also, the fact that Harry ran through a list of all of Cedric’s accomplishments makes it seem that Harry is keeping tabs on who is better at what, and that he’s yearning to become just as good as Cedric is at those things, and that he can be better. His final thoughts on Cedric are that he is “a useless pretty boy who didn’t have enough brains to fill an eggcup”. In order to deflect and defend against the embarrassment of rejection, Harry insults the person who has caused the embarrassment. Harry feels that handsomeness played a role in Cho choosing Cedric over him, so he makes himself feel better by saying that despite the fact that Cedric is pretty, he is useless.
Annoyed “Langdon groaned. Tonight’s lecture—a slideshow about pagan symbolism hidden in the stones of Chartres Cathedral—had probably ruffled some conservative feathers in the audience. Most likely, some religious scholar had trailed him home to pick a fight… Langdon had little doubt. His books on religious paintings and cult symbology had made him a reluctant celebrity in the art world, and last year Langdon’s visibility had increased a hundredfold after his involvement in a widely publicized incident at the Vatican. Since then, the stream of self-important historians and art buffs arriving at his door had seemed never-ending. “If you would be so kind,” Langdon said, doing his best to remain polite, “could you take the man’s name and number, and tell him I’ll try to call him before I leave Paris on Tuesday? Thank you.” He hung up before the concierge could protest.” (12)
Narrator Robert Langdon is annoyed because in this passage, he makes several assumptions of what kind of annoying fan his midnight visitor could be. He immediately assumes that he had “ruffled some conservative feathers” and that he had been followed. This is stated plainly, but in an exasperated way. Most people would probably be alarmed to find out they had been tailed, but Langdon is not shocked and has likely had this experience before and is aware of how annoying it is. He also portrays himself as a “reluctant celebrity” to a “never-ending” stream of people “arriving at his door”. Langdon is obviously not pleased about his celebrity status, and only finds his fans to get in the way. He dislikes the endlessness of his situation. Lastly, it mentions that he did “his best to remain polite”. This indicates that Langdon is well aware of his tone of voice, and that it is far from being polite. He attempts to adjust his behavior, but decides to give up and go to sleep rather than deal with his annoying visitor.
Condescending ““Capitaine?” The phone crackled like a walkie-talkie. Fache felt his teeth clench in rage. He could imagine nothing important enough that Collet would interrupt this surveillance cache—especially at this critical juncture... “I’m busy at the moment,” Fache radioed back, leaving no doubt in his tone that a line had been crossed...The ministry’s ongoing foray into political correctness, Fache argued, was weakening the department. Women not only lacked the physicality necessary for police work, but their mere presence posed a dangerous distraction to the men in the field. As Fache had feared, Sophie Neveu was proving far more distracting than most.” (30)
Bezu Fache is a male police captain with a huge ego, so therefore, he has a condescending tone especially when referring to his female colleagues. First of all, he thinks he is above everyone else. He believes that there is “nothing important enough” for him to be interrupted. This shows his arrogance when it comes to addressing those under his command. He exaggerates, saying women are “dangerous” to men. This states his beliefs about women—that they are inferior to men. Despite the fact that he is the police captain, he generalizes and treats them with disrespect. Ironically, the female officer was called in to assist Fache in something that he could did not have expertise in doing. Fache, blinded by his ignorance, attempts to maintain his superiority by putting women as a whole down.
Arrogant “I am one of those unambitious lawyers who never addresses a jury, or in any way draws down public applause; but in the cool tranquility of a snug retreat, do a snug business among rich men’s bonds and mortgages and title-deeds. All who know me, consider me an eminently safe man. The late John Jacob Astor, a personage little given to poetic enthusiasm, had no hesitation in pronouncing my first grand point to be prudence; my next, method. I do not speak it in vanity, but simply record the fact, that I was not unemployed in my profession by the late John Jacob Astor…” (4)
The unnamed narrator as an air of arrogance when presenting his posh lifestyle to the audience. He labels himself as an “unambitious” lawyer who prefers to do “snug business among rich men’s bonds and mortgages and title-deeds” instead. Most people would not be bragging of working just for the money and reaping the benefits instead of fighting for justice as a lawyer. However, the narrator is perfectly content with doing this and sharing his indulgent lifestyle. He also talks about his associations with “the late John Jacob Astor”, one of the first multi-millionaires in the United States. His reference to Astor is an attempt to prove to the reader that he dabbles in the same social circles as the ridiculously wealthy. It’s the narrator’s way of trying to impress the crowd. At the very end of this excerpt, he mentions that he’s not speaking it in “vanity”. Then why try to boast about being surrounded by money? He clearly is doing it for vanity, and denying it makes his tone of voice come off as even more self-important and arrogant.
Indignant “She is not listening. She rage at me, ‘You wash in filth! This place is disgusting. I caan believe you bring me all this way to live like this. You make me come here to live like an animal?’ Man, this woman is a barb under my skin — she irritate me so I lose me temper. I tell her, ‘Yes, and you know what else, little Miss Stick-up-your-nose-in-the-air, you will have to wash your plate, your vegetable, and your backside in that basin too. This room is where you will sleep, eat, cook, dress, and write your mummy to tell her how the Mother Country is so fine. And, little Miss High-class, one thing about England you don’t know yet because you just come off a boat. You are lucky.’” (26)
After being insulted, the narrator, Gilbert Joseph, addresses the person who has just insulted him in an indignant tone of voice. The narrator refers to her, Hortense, as “Miss Stick-up-your-nose-in-the-air and Miss High-class. Instead of calling her Hortense, he calls her insulting names after her outburst because he is angry and defensive. It’s very sarcastic and mocks her ignorance of what has been going on in England. He demands that Hortense “write your mummy to tell her how the Mother Country is so fine”. Gilbert Joseph means this very sarcastically, because the postwar conditions of his country are terrible. He is indignant, meaning that he is showing anger at unfair treatment, because Hortense has arrived with unrealistic expectations and is blaming it on him. In addition, he makes demands such as “you will have to wash your plate, your vegetable, and your backside in that basin” and “sleep, eat, cook, dress, and write your mummy”. His assertiveness shows that he is not offended by Hortense’s outburst, rather, he seeks to defend himself and is addressing her in a tone of both anger and annoyance instead of a tone of apology or sadness.
Panicked ““God in Heaven!” he thought. It was half past six and the hands were quietly moving forwards, it was even later than half past, more like quarter to seven. Had the alarm clock not rung? He could see from the bed that it had been set for four o’clock as it should have been; it certainly must have rung. Yes, but was it possible to quietly sleep through that furniture-rattling noise? True, he had not slept peacefully, but probably all the more deeply because of that. What should he do now? The next train went at seven; if he were to catch that he would have to rush like mad and the collection of samples was still not packed and he did not at all feel particularly fresh and lively. And even if he did catch the train he would not avoid his boss’s anger as the office assistant would have been there to see the five o’clock train go, he would have put in his report about Gregor’s not being there a long time ago. The office assistant was the boss’s man, spineless, and with no understanding.” (5)
In this passage from Metamorphosis, the main character, Gregor, exhibits a panicked behavior and tone. We can conclude this because of what is going on in the story; Gregor has overslept, though “he had not slept peacefully”, and will be late for work. He is extremely irritated about oversleeping (“God in Heaven!”) because of this and because he has literally turned into a bug. Furthermore, this situation has created a time constraint for him that he must figure out how to solve. Unfortunately, Gregor is not the best at problemsolving, and his attempts at it only increase his distress. He creates many hypothetical situations about the negative things that could occur because of his lateness, and refers to his boss’s “anger” and how the office assistant is “spineless”. On top of this, he mentions he “would have to rush like mad” and that many things are still left unfinished. Collectively, this entire passage contains many run on sentences used many “ands”, which are all smashed into a single long paragraph. Gregor’s thought process is very disorganized, and is basically one dreaded thing after another. And since the sentences are so long with few pauses, it seems like Gregor is rushing. Because his thoughts are so rushed and disorganized and the situation itself is extremely stressful, it can be determined that the tone of the excerpt is panicked.
Urgent “There must have been some mistake. This can’t be happening. Prim was one slip of paper in thousands! Her chances of being chosen so remote that I’d not even bothered to worry about her. Hadn’t I done everything? Taken the tesserae, refused to let her do the same? One slip. One slip in thousands. The odds had been entirely in her favor. But it hadn’t mattered.” (21)
In this passage, the narrator, Katniss Everdeen, narrates her thoughts in an extremely urgent tone of voice. This entire passage consists of short, simple sentences, as opposed to the diverse combination of simple, compound, and compound-complex sentences found in the rest of the chapter. This indicates the urgency of the situation, as Katniss is quickly going through many thoughts in a state of panic. The short sentence/phrase of “one slip” is also repeated. This occurs as the narrator realizes the consequences of that small slip of paper and what changes are about to happen because of it. Also, this passage contains more exclamatory and interrogative sentences than usual. In most of the novel, the sentences are declarative, while here, there are less since the narrator is urgently conveying her thoughts. She also questions herself a lot because she feels responsible for what has happened, and is struggling to find out where she went wrong.