Tone Tone is defined as the author’s or speaker’s attitude toward the subject. The tone is always described with an adjective. Tone is an integral part of a piece of literature’s meaning because it controls the reader’s response which is essential to fully understanding and experiencing literature. When you identify the tone of a quote from a text, you should be able to explain the rationale behind that tone.

For Example… What is the tone of the following statement? “I love carrying my heavy literature book to class,” said Johnnie as he stuffed it into his backpack. Sarcastic Rationale: Why do you know that is the tone? What words in the sentence support the tone?

Connotation All words have a connotation. The connotation is the emotional meaning or emotional associations that you make with the word. These can be either positive, negative or neutral, and often one’s connotations are based on their own personal experiences.

Tone Words When selecting tone words, try to go one step beyond “happy” or “sad.” These are adjectives that can describe tone, but in most cases, there is a better alternative out there. Study the list of tone words I’ve provided. Do you know the meaning of all these words? If not, circle those that you are uncertain of and define them.

Positive, Negative or Neutral? Words help us relay a variety of emotions, and these emotions often follow a spectrum that ranges from positive to negative. – Example: exuberant has a positive meaning/association, while distraught has a negative meaning/association Look through your list and determine whether EACH word would be positive, negative or neutral. Highlight all positive words one color, negative words a second and neutral words a third.

Rank the Words Now look at all the words within a category. (For example, all the words you’ve designated as positive.) Rank the words from MOST positive to least positive. Repeat this step for the negative and neutral categories.

Identify Situations for the Tone For the top two words in each category, describe a situation that you feel would have the tone mentioned. – For example, Christmas Day would be exuberant for a small child because they are excited over the concept of Santa and new toys.

Visualizing the Tone Spectrum Now think of a image that also shows a spectrum. For example, the speedometer on a car shows a range of speeds from 0 to 120. Draw this image on your piece of paper. Then place the tone words from your list onto the spectrum. It’s up to you to decide what end of the range will be positive or negative.

Applying Tone to The Crucible Read the following quote: Parris: “Now tell me true, Abigail. I pray you feel the weight of truth upon you, for now my ministry’s at stake, my ministry and perhaps your cousin’s life” (170). What do you think the tone is for this quote? (Think about the context of the entire passage) Rationale: Explain why you know that is the tone. What words in the sentence support the tone? **** Remember this is inference and interpretation. You may have different ideas that other students. As long as you can back up your opinion with proof from the text, your answer should be valid.

Applying Tone to The Crucible Read the following quote: Parris: “Your name in the town—it is entirely white, is it not?” (171) Abigail “My name is good in the village! I will not have it said my name is soiled! Goody Proctor is a gossiping liar!” (172) What do you think the tone is for Abigail’s quote? (Think about the context of the entire passage) Rationale: Explain why you know that is the tone. What words in the sentence support the tone? **** Remember this is inference and interpretation. You may have different ideas that other students. As long as you can back up your opinion with proof from the text, your answer should be valid.

The Crucible Tone Charts Choose one quote/passage from Act III of The Crucible. Complete the chart below for that quote/passage. Quote: Choose the most significant quote from that passage. Make sure you cite it correctly! Tone Word: List the tone word and give the part of speech and the definition of that word. Context: Explain the context of the passage with a thorough summary Rationale: Explain why this tone word is appropriate for this passage.

The Crucible Tone Charts Choose one quote/passage from Act III of The Crucible. Complete the chart below for that quote/passage. Quote: “My proof is there! If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property—that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbors for their land!” (214) Tone Word: Agitated: adjective To disturb or excite emotionally Context: We know that Putnam has a history of land disputes, and Giles is now in court trying to convince the judge that Putnam has a motive to make these false accusations. He points out that it’s Putnam’s daughter that has accused so many. Rationale: We know that Corey is agitated because he claims that Putnam is KILLING neighbors, not just trying to steal from them. The repeated use of exclamation points lets the reader understand that Corey is very emotional at this moment.

The Crucible Tone Charts Choose one quote/passage from Act III of The Crucible. Complete the chart below for that quote/passage. Quote: Choose the most significant quote from that passage. Make sure you cite it correctly! Tone Word: List the tone word and give the part of speech and the definition of that word. Context: Explain the context of the passage with a thorough summary Rationale: Explain why this tone word is appropriate for this passage.

The Crucible Tone Charts Choose one quote/passage from Act III of The Crucible. Complete the chart below for that quote/passage. Quote: “My proof is there! If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeits up his property—that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbors for their land!” (214) Tone Word: Agitated Adjective To disturb or excite emotionally Context: Giles is in the courtroom. He is trying to prove that his wife is innocent so he can save her life. He is not having much success, because the judge has declared him in contempt of court. Rationale: The use of three exclamation marks let us understand that Corey is excited. However, we know it is a negative excitement by the use of the word “killing”. He is agitated because he must prove the truth to the court.

Act III Tone Identification Now that we’ve finished reading Act III, try your hand at identifying passages that contain certain tones. Find a passage that contains one of the tones listed below, and complete a tone chart for it. This chart will be in addition to the 2 charts required for your act III journals. – Frustrated – Accusatory – Skeptical – Accepting Remember that a “passage” can contain lines from multiple characters. It does not have to be limited to just one.