Tone and Atmosphere Flashcards
All 12 cards in this deck
What is tone in a piece of writing?
The attitude the writer or narrator shows towards the subject, for example affectionate, bitter, mocking or wistful. It is created through word choice.
What is atmosphere (or mood)?
The feeling a scene creates for the reader, such as tense, eerie, peaceful or oppressive. It is usually built by many choices working together.
How do writers build an atmosphere?
With clusters of word choices, imagery, sounds and sentence rhythms that all point the same way. The best answers show how several choices work together, not just one.
What does an ominous atmosphere feel like, and how is it usually created?
It feels as if something bad is about to happen. It is often built from unexplained details, silence, darkness and pathetic fallacy.
What is a wistful or nostalgic tone?
A gentle sadness or longing for the past. Look for memories, the past tense, soft words and details that are fondly remembered.
What makes an atmosphere claustrophobic?
Language of confinement and pressure: small spaces, heat, crowding, and verbs such as pressed and trapped. The reader feels hemmed in alongside the character.
What is irony in a narrative, and what effect can it have?
A gap between what is said and what is meant, or between what a character believes and what the reader can see. It can create humour or sadness, and it makes the reader feel they understand more than the character does.
Why use a precise tone word rather than "sad" or "scary"?
Precise words such as menacing, desolate or bittersweet show exactly what effect you have noticed. That precision is what the top levels reward.
How should you handle a change of tone within an extract?
Find the turning point, often a word like but, until or suddenly, and explain how the language before and after it differs, and why that contrast matters.
How can a narrator's voice shape tone?
A young or naive narrator may describe things innocently while the reader understands more, which creates pathos or humour. A wry adult narrator may create comedy through understatement.
In 'The swimming pool had been empty for three summers; leaves gathered in the deep end and a rusted ladder led down to nothing', what atmosphere is created?
A desolate atmosphere of neglect. 'Led down to nothing' suggests emptiness and loss where there should be fun and noise.
In 'Every Sunday the kitchen smelled of cinnamon, and every Sunday Gran sang off-key', what is the tone?
Affectionate and nostalgic. The repeated 'every Sunday' suggests a comforting routine, and 'off-key' is a fondly remembered flaw.