1. Chapter 2: Mood/Tone Journals
Mood/Tone Journals help you explore the writer’s attitude toward his/her topic or the feelings the writer experiences while studying the text.
Tone: The writer’s, speaker’s or narrator’s attitude toward the subject, the audience or a character. (AKA attitude)
Mood: The feeling created in the reader; the atmosphere of the piece. (AKA atmosphere)
Remember: If it’s how the reader feels, it’s mood. If it’s how the author feels, it’s tone.

2. Mood/Tone Journals In the left column:
record examples of elements such as diction or imagery that contribute to mood or tone.
note the context of the quotation or detail from the text.
use quotation marks around quotes, and note the page numbers on which they appear.
In the right column:
explain how the text reveals the mood of the passage or the tone of the speaker.
interpret words and images that have emotional impact and connotative associations.

3. Mood/Tone Journals Evidence (quotation or detail and context)
Inference—Commentary
Quotation: “…the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful Meager, indeed, and cold was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for from such bystanders at the scaffold” (Hawthorne 4).
Context: The people of the Puritan community wait for the prisoner. They show no mercy.
(mood words are underlined):
A gloomy atmosphere is set for the reader as we await the entrance of the main character. The reader might even have a sense of foreboding for the sake of a character who is about to be so harshly judged by his or her peers.

4. Mood/Tone Journals Evidence (quotation or detail and context)
Inference—Commentary
Quotation: “…like a shadow emerging into the sunshine, the grim and grisly presence of the town beadle, with a sword by his side and his staff of office in his hand” (Hawthorne 6).
Context: The town beadle comes out from the prison door to the crowd of Puritans.
(Tone words are underlined):
The negative connotations of the word “shadow” imply that this parish official is not simply an usher for public events. He is a man whose presence strikes fear in the hearts of the colonists. Such ominousness is reinforced by the words “grim” and “grisly.” The fact that he carries a sword also adds to the menacing and threatening tone.