Purpose:
Authors use tone to present their attitude towards the subject at hand. They purposely manipulate the diction, the syntax, and the formality of the writing to get their perspective of the subject across to the reader. They may choose specific words with different connotations, change the order of the words, or make certain grammatical choices such as including specific punctuation. The option of using shorter sentences versus longer, complex sentences is also in the author’s hands which may convey the tone even more. This in turn, helps to create the mood, which is the reader’s attitude. Setting a mood helps the author better achieve his or her purpose whether it is trying to educate, to persuade, or to support a political view.
Steps for Analysis:
Read the article and zone in on the different components of it
Analyze the word choice (diction), the syntax (grammar, punctuation, and the order of the words), and the formality (short, precise sentences, use of slang, long complex sentences with big words etc).
After each component is analyzed conclude what the author’s expressed attitude is toward the subject
Example from: “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl”
“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness. I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too. I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again”
Analysis of Passage:
Tone is an important part of almost any written piece of literature. It provides a much needed mood for the reader and allows the reader to have an insight on what the author’s stance is on the subject. In the case of “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl”, it’s presents Anne Franks personal experience during the Holocaust. Throughout the diary, she can be seen switching between different tones denoting whether she is worried, sad, etc.
In this specific entry, her tone is leaning more towards despair but also hope in a combating sense. To denote her tone of despair in her writing, she writes that she can’t build up her hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. The words she chose, “confusion”, “misery”, and “death” all signify her despair in the subject which projects a gloomy outcome of what the future might look like. However, combating this, she writes “I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again”. Her choice of wording makes her sound like she has hope in the future which projects her tone of hope. Rather than sounding monotone , using boring and simple descriptions, she allows for her unique attitude to bleed out in her entry by using certain choices in her writing.
Frank, Anne, et al. The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition. 1st Anchor Books ed. New York, Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1996.