How Do You Feel About Tone?

At the start of class everyone was handed the book Ready Player One. The first part of the book (Level One) is due October 22. While reading the book the class must answer two questions: what tone(s) does the novel develop about the past and what tone(s) does the novel develop about the future? When answering these questions make sure to add specific passages and page numbers for evidence.

Of course the question then must be asked - what is tone?

Tone is the speaker's attitude which determines the meaning of whatever (a phrase, a scene, etc.). The meaning can then be developed as connotative (social meaning) or denotation (dictionary definition).
For example:
1) This jock is a freshman.
2) This student plays sports.
3) This scholar is a competitor.

All these sentences have the same denotation, an athletic student. The sentences, however, have different connotative meanings. The word "jock" has negative connotation in the first sentence whereas the word "scholar" in the third sentence has positive connotation.

There are also other factors that develop tone, such as audience (Formal v. Casual) and attitude (Sincere v. Ironic).

At this point the class was given a several page list of tone words (PDF is on classroom under the name "Tone Word Resource"). The class then watched the coin toss scene from No Country For Old Men and was asked what the tones of the scene were. All the tones that were chosen then had to be supported with evidence. For instance, one tone was psychotic and a piece of evidence that supported it was Chigurh's line "Don't put it in your pocket, then it's just a regular coin. Which it is."

What the class practiced with the movie clip is how to complete the assignment for Ready Player One. Use the list, find the tones of several passages, and find specific evidence that support them.

Something to keep in mind: We do this EVERY SINGLE DAY. When we are chatting with a teacher, or having a conversation with a friend, we are always finding and using tone. If the president walked by, your tone with them would be drastically different then if your crush walked by. Tone surrounds us daily with everything we say and do.