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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
Book 1, Chapter 4: Sentimental Education (1988-1992)
Explanation and Analysis:
The tone of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is irreverent, dark, and ironic. The novel is a fictional biography of Oscar Wao written by Oscar’s friend Yunior. As such, Yunior is the narrator, and the novel is understood to be written by him. The tone of the novel is dictated by Yunior’s voice as a writer.
Yunior writes as if he is not concerned with what anyone thinks—and least of all the reader. This flippancy is palpable in his attitude toward Oscar. Even though Oscar is the subject of the biography, Yunior is often mean and biting when he writes about him. For example, in Chapter 4, he writes:
In my universe, when a dork like Oscar pushes up on a girl like Jenni, he usually gets bounced faster than your tía Daisy’s rent checks, but Jenni must have had brain damage or been really into fat loser nerdboys, because by the end of February she was actually treating him all civil and shit.
Here, Yunior insinuates that women would need to have “brain damage” or be “really into fat loser nerdboys” to be romantically involved with Oscar. This is almost shocking in its meanness, especially considering that Oscar has died. But Yunior is not intending to avoid the reader’s shock.
At the same time, Yunior’s nerdy references make his tone less sinister. It becomes clear that Yunior is nerdy in the same way Oscar is. The bitterness in his tone comes to feel more like a product of his attitude toward the world and his anger that Oscar died than like actual bitterness toward Oscar himself.
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