Monday, April 29, 2013

Tone and Narration

 TONE:

Definition: The attitude of a writer toward a literary works subject and its audience as revealed by choice of words and details.

Example:  “Afoot and light hearted I take to the open road, healthy, free, and the world before me.” Walt Whitman, Song of the open road.

Example:  "The course of true love never did run smooth." - A Midsummer Night's Dream

*We will read together as a class, Buttons by Brock Cole, and you will give two examples of tone and narration from the story. Explain what it means or what they are trying to explain. *

 Example 1: The author playfully comments directly to the reader in frolicsome asides about this family of noddleheads. Button by Brock Cole

Example 2: “She was young and rabbit and still picker her nose when she thought no one was looking.” Button by Brock Cole
NARRATION:

Definition: a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events.

Example: Looking back on a childhood filled with events and memories, I find it rather difficult to pick on that leaves me with the fabled “warm and fuzzy feelings.” As the daughter of an Air Force Major, I had the pleasure of traveling across America in many moving trips. I have visited the monstrous trees of the Sequoia National Forest, stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon and have jumped on the beds at Caesar’s Palace in Lake Tahoe. However, I have discovered that when reflecting on my childhood, it is not the trips that come to mind, instead there are details from everyday doings; a deck of cards, a silver bank or an ice cream flavor." “Playground Memory.”

*Examples of narration from Button by Brock Cole*

Example 1: “Once there as an old man who once ate so much his britches burst and his buttons popped one, two, three into the fire. Wife! Wife! He cried. We are undone! My britches have burst and my buttons are burnt, every one!”

Example 2: "After putting her husband to bed, the wife enlists the aid of her three daughters in replacing their father's buttons. The eldest promises to find a rich man who will give her buttons in exchange for her hand in marriage. The second daughter decides to join the army for the sake of the buttons on a soldier's uniform. And the youngest is going to run through the meadows with her apron held out before her, hoping to catch a few buttons falling from the sky.”
 
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