Throughout “The Moving Finger,” Wharton’s tone is formal. In the first two parts of the story, the tone is awed and inquisitive as readers follow the narrator’s description of Mr. Grancy and his concern for his friend. It is evident that the narrator respects Mr. Grancy and wishes to help his friend through his grief. The narrator is eager to attend Sunday gatherings and appreciates Mr. Grancy’s friendship. His narration in these first parts is formal, erudite, and awed. Wharton uses formal language, elaborate imagery and figurative language, and complex sentences to create this tone.
Because the story is told in first person by the narrator, the narrator’s opinions on Claydon and the portrait drive the tone. This is evident when the narrator talks to Claydon in Part II after Mr. Grancy returns from Rome:
I had always felt that [Claydon] and I stood nearer Ralph than the others, and if the old Sundays were to be renewed I should have preferred that we two should spend the first alone with him.
Here, the narrator is unaware that Claydon has altered the portrait for his own purposes. Instead, the narrator expresses his respect for Mr. Grancy and his desire to reunite their friend group with Claydon. The tone here remains inquisitive and erudite because the narrator still maintains his awe of Mr. Grancy and Claydon.
The tone shifts in part three when Grancy narrates his experiences after his wife’s death. Grancy’s narration is more informal and apprehensive than the narrator’s, with a general tone of despair and grief that permeates his story. When the narrator learns the truth behind why the painting was altered, the tone shifts again, becoming dismal and tense. In Part IV, the narrator is unable to take care of his friend for whom he previously held such respect, and readers watch Mr. Grancy devolve into poor health alongside the portrait. The narrator does not believe Mr. Grancy’s delusions about the portrait, turning the tone dismal and critical:
After that, for ten years or more, I watched the strange spectacle of a life of hopeful and productive effort based on the structure of a dream. There could be no doubt to those who saw Grancy during this period that he drew his strength and courage from the sense of his wife’s mystic participation in his task.
In this quote, the narrator writes with sadness as he describes watching “the strange spectacle” of Mr. Grancy’s hope that is “based on the structure of a dream.” The narrator himself loses hope as he fails to convince Mr. Grancy that the portrait does not have his wife’s spirit. He must watch his friend slowly grow old and die with no ability to help him. The description here creates a dismal tone without the initial awe for Mr. Grancy.
Throughout “The Moving Finger,” Wharton’s tone is formal. In the first two parts of the story, the tone is awed and inquisitive as readers follow the narrator’s description of Mr. Grancy and his concern for his friend. It is evident that the narrator respects Mr. Grancy and wishes to help his friend through his grief. The narrator is eager to attend Sunday gatherings and appreciates Mr. Grancy’s friendship. His narration in these first parts is formal, erudite, and awed. Wharton uses formal language, elaborate imagery and figurative language, and complex sentences to create this tone.
Because the story is told in first person by the narrator, the narrator’s opinions on Claydon and the portrait drive the tone. This is evident when the narrator talks to Claydon in Part II after Mr. Grancy returns from Rome:
I had always felt that [Claydon] and I stood nearer Ralph than the others, and if the old Sundays were to be renewed I should have preferred that we two should spend the first alone with him.
Here, the narrator is unaware that Claydon has altered the portrait for his own purposes. Instead, the narrator expresses his respect for Mr. Grancy and his desire to reunite their friend group with Claydon. The tone here remains inquisitive and erudite because the narrator still maintains his awe of Mr. Grancy and Claydon.
The tone shifts in part three when Grancy narrates his experiences after his wife’s death. Grancy’s narration is more informal and apprehensive than the narrator’s, with a general tone of despair and grief that permeates his story. When the narrator learns the truth behind why the painting was altered, the tone shifts again, becoming dismal and tense. In Part IV, the narrator is unable to take care of his friend for whom he previously held such respect, and readers watch Mr. Grancy devolve into poor health alongside the portrait. The narrator does not believe Mr. Grancy’s delusions about the portrait, turning the tone dismal and critical:
After that, for ten years or more, I watched the strange spectacle of a life of hopeful and productive effort based on the structure of a dream. There could be no doubt to those who saw Grancy during this period that he drew his strength and courage from the sense of his wife’s mystic participation in his task.
In this quote, the narrator writes with sadness as he describes watching “the strange spectacle” of Mr. Grancy’s hope that is “based on the structure of a dream.” The narrator himself loses hope as he fails to convince Mr. Grancy that the portrait does not have his wife’s spirit. He must watch his friend slowly grow old and die with no ability to help him. The description here creates a dismal tone without the initial awe for Mr. Grancy.
