A Perfect Day for Bananafish

by J. D. Salinger

A Perfect Day for Bananafish: Tone 1 key example

Definition of Tone

The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical, and so on. For instance... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical... read full definition
Tone
Explanation and Analysis:

Because of Salinger’s stylistic choice to use the third-person omniscient voice, the tone of “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” is almost detached in its distance from the characters.

However, it is also conversational, punctuated by a dry sense of humor. This comes through in some of the descriptions. For example:

She looked as if her phone had been ringing continually ever since she had reached puberty.