Mood and Tone

1. Mood and Tone

2. Learning Targets • I can define what tone and mood mean and explain the difference between the two. • I can identify the mood of various works and explain how I know. • I can identify the tone of various works and explain how I know.

3. Mood – it’s all about you, the reader! • MOOD is the overall feelings or emotions that are created IN THE READER. • Author’s ‘move’ their readers’ moods through their choice of words and level of details.

4. What is the mood? How do you know? After New Year's the time came to put all the decorations away and settle in for the long, cold winter. The house seemed to sigh as we boxed up its finery. The tree was dry and brittle, and now waited forlornly by the side of the road to be picked up. Mood: Dreary, depressed. How do we know? "cold, sigh, brittle, forlornly"

5. What is the mood? How do you feel? During the holidays, my mother's house glittered with decorations and hummed with preparations. We ate cookies and drank cider while we helped her wrap bright packages and trim the tree. We felt warm and excited, listening to Christmas carols and even singing along sometimes. We would tease each other about our terrible voices and then sing even louder. Mood: Content, happy. How do we know? Words like "warm, excited, glittered” are used by the author.

6. Mood: “A Gift in His Shoes” Donovan and Larry were early for baseball practice. They decided to run up and down the bleachers to exercise before the rest of the team arrived. Larry was first to the top. He whispered to Donovan, “Look over there.” He pointed to a man sleeping on the highest, narrow bench of the bleachers. His pants and shirt were faded, worn, and too large for his thin frame. One big toe stuck out of a huge hole in his sock. His scraped-up shoes sat a few feet away. Donovan whispered, “We should help him out. Let’s hide something good in his shoes. Then, when he wakes up, he will have a nice surprise.”

7. Mood: “A Gift in his Shoes” How would you describe the mood of this passage? • Angry • Detached • Sympathetic Evidence?

8. 1. How does this song make you feel? What is the mood? ‘Auschwitz-Birkenau’ from the Schindler’s List soundtrack - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSeObaTwsGY&safe=active • Relaxed • Cheerful • Depressed How do you know?

9. 2. How does this poem make you feel? How do you know? • Fearful • Tense • Hopeless What is the textual evidence that supports your opinion?

10. Tone – It’s all about the author • TONE is simply the author’s attitude toward the subject or topic. • You can recognize the tone/attitude by the language/word choices the author uses. • The author’s language will reveal his or her perspective/opinion (that is, whether it is positive/negative) about the subject. • Tone must be inferred through the use of descriptive words.

11. Tone and Connotation • Positive and Negative Connotation • Connotation is the feeling that words evoke beyond the literal (dictionary) meaning • Words can evoke positive and negative feelings or reactions. They can also reflect the speaker or writer’s feelings or reactions towards the subject they are discussing. • Some words are considered neutral – neither positive or negative. • Informal and Formal Language • Certain types of words and ways of speaking and writing to fit where we are and who we are communicating with.

12. Graphing Words The following words are considered neutral. Choose 3-4 words and write them in the center of the chart. Then, identify synonyms for the word that fit into each section of the chart: Positive Formal, Positive Informal, Negative Formal, Negative Informal • Money • Proud • Marriage • Social • Police Officer • Activist • Boy • Democrat • Girl • Educated • Republican

13. How did Nazi Germany use Language? What would be the effect of using the literal word v. the real meaning? Literal Word Really Meant Exterminated Murdered Liquidated Murdered Actions Missions to seek out Jews and kill them Special Treatment The Death Process in camp Bath Installations Gas Chambers Resettlement Murdered Evacuation Murdered The Final Solution The decision to commit genocide

14. What is the tone? How do you know? Finally, one of the girls pointed to the grass and giggled. "Meow!" A cat sat on the edge of the field and licked its paw. They did indeed have company. The girls ran over to the cat and pet his belly. They laughed and the cat sauntered back to the field. Evidence? The tone of this passage is happy/contentment as there was a successful, happy resolution to the problem.

15. What is the tone? How do you know? The girls were playing in the pond, splashing each other and trying to catch fish with their hands. They were having fun, but kept looking over their shoulders at the looming forest. The long grass of the field kept moving and they sort of felt like they were being watched… About a half hour passed and still the girls kept checking the field for movements. It seemed like a pair of dark eyes was on them. They even considered going back inside, but that would mean homework time. So they continued splashing, but with caution now. Their eyes hardly left the field.

16. Tone How would you describe the tone [attitude] of this author? • Angry • Ominous • Affectionate Evidence? • The tone of this passage is ominous, suggesting a little bit of fear or foreboding. Words like "caution, dark, and looming“ lead readers to the tone.

17. What is the author’s tone in this this song? How do you know? • Indifferent • Angry • Defiant Evidence?