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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
Key Examples in A Study in Scarlet
Part 1, Chapter 3: The Lauriston Garden Mystery
Explanation and Analysis:
The tone in Part 1 of A Study in Scarlet is humorous, curious, and suspenseful. This first part of the novel is told from the first-person point of view of Dr. John Watson, and the narrative is supposed to be written in his journal. Watson has a sarcastic, wry sense of humor, which colors his narration in the first part of the novel. Although he eventually grows to like and admire Sherlock Holmes, he is initially skeptical about his new companion, finding him to be “conceited” and “bumptious.” He relays Holmes’s eccentric behavior when they first arrive at the scene of Enoch Drebber’s murder in humorous terms, highlighting the absurdity of his strange new friend’s behavior to the outside observer:
I had imagined that Sherlock Holmes would at once have hurried into the house and plunged into a study of the mystery. Nothing appeared to be further from his intention. With an air of nonchalance which, under the circumstances, seemed to me to border upon affectation, he lounged up and down the pavement, and gazed vacantly at the ground, the sky, the opposite houses […] Having finished this scrutiny, he proceeded slowly down the path.
