ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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We know that every good story has a bunch of parts. [Girl reading a book]

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Plot, setting, theme, point of view…

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…the list goes on and on and on and… well, you get the picture.

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But today, we're going to talk about tone.

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But today, we're going to talk about tone! [Cheerleaders dancing]

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…See what we did there?

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Tone refers to the emotional feel of a piece of writing. [Coop explaining tone]

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For example, if your BFF passes you a note in class and it makes you snort, the tone

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was probably pretty funny. [Girl snorts after reading a note]

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Or, if your teacher writes a note to your parents about how you tend to snort in class

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instead of pay attention, her tone might be pretty stern.

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Tone depends on what's happening in the story: the setting, the events, and how the characters

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interact all play a part. [Dino discussing tone]

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It can be happy, sad, mysterious… whatever emotion the story provokes in the reader!

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Even boredom, though hopefully that doesn’t happen. [Man reading book and falls to the floor]

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What's more, the tone is generally connected to what the main character is feeling.

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As a reader, we're meant to identify with the main character, so whatever they're feeling [Love hearts floating above girls head]

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is a pretty good hint of what the story’s tone.

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And since the tone is connected to what's happening in the story, it can change over

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the course of the story.

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It's rare to read a story where everyone's happy all the time, so we wouldn't necessarily

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expect a story to have a happy tone from start to finish. [Man gives thumbs up stood next to burning car]

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Because, yes, even too much happiness can be a little boring. That’s why we stop

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watching Barney the Dinosaur as we get older.

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Well, some of us do… [Man watching Barney on TV]

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So let's think about the first few chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

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When the book starts, Harry isn't the darling of the wizarding world.

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He's a lonely kid living under a staircase with the Dursleys, a family that doesn't treat [Harry Potter under a staircase and Dursley family appears]

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him very well. Naturally, Harry's pretty sad.

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The tone is pretty straightforward here. Harry's the main character, so the tone ends up being

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what he's feeling, aka sadness. [Harry in a rainy street]

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Things start to change as the story gets going, though. As Harry's about to turn eleven, owls

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start bringing letters addressed to him, which his uncle tries to destroy. [Owl flying and letter burns]

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With all this excitement, Harry's sadness gives way to a new curiosity, which – you

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guessed it – is the tone of this part of the story.

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After a while, despite Uncle Vernon's best efforts, the Dursley house gets a visit from [Hagrid appears at the front door]

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Hagrid, a half-giant wizard, who whisks Harry away in order to get him ready for wizarding school.

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As Harry finds himself plunged into the world of wizards, he becomes extremely excited, [A floating feather]

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and so do we. And, yup…so does the tone.

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All that's to say, that tone is pretty important in a story. It’s the story’s emotional

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heart and soul. It’s what makes us care, laugh, and cry.

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Now if you'd excuse us, we're going to re-read Harry Potter for the hundredth time! [Woman reading Harry Potter]

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Did our tone sound excited?

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Bingo! That's 'cause we are!

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