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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
Tone
Explanation and Analysis:
Narrative tone in No Country for Old Men is pragmatic and to the point. McCarthy's narrator is both desensitized by and clinically removed from the violence they describe, at least when compared to narrating characters like Bell. The primary narrator's clinical remove is an important feature of No Country for Old Men, serving as a tonal example of the desensitization Bell complains about. Violence has become less personal, Bell argues, and more detached from the victim—strangers murder strangers in cold blood, needing no reason to commit violence except for the thrill of doing so. McCarthy's primary narrative tone supports this conclusion, speaking of violence between strangers with the same tone that Chigurh himself might.
McCarthy exclusively uses free indirect discourse in No Country for Old Men, merging the narrator's tone with that of the characters. Dialogue, when present, is never written within quotations. This stylistic choice often makes it difficult for the reader to distinguish between the narrator's tone and characters' personal speaking tones, contributing to the general feeling of desensitization. The narrator appears detached from the novel's violence; and characters, taking on some of the narrator's speaking quality, in turn appear to detach from the violent world around them, unaffected by violence. Sheriff Bell remains the exception to this effect.
Related Themes:
