Black Boy

by Richard Wright

Black Boy: 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:

Richard's tone, as the narrator of the text, changes as Richard does throughout the book. At the beginning of the memoir, Richard is terribly naive about the world and has difficulty understanding the emotional reactions of others, especially those of authority figures. The most gruesome instance of this literal worldview is very early in the memoir, when Richard takes his father's statement to kill a kitten literally, and the four-year-old Richard hangs it with a noose.