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One of the key components to understanding tone is that it is the attitude writers take toward a specific subject. In the photograph on page 943, the tones you identified were ones that the photographer has toward the grief caused by war. He probably has many different attitudes toward all sorts of other topics, but the tone he takes in this photo is unique to this subject. So when you are first learning to analyze the tone of a work, it may be helpful to use a phrase such as “the author takes a _____________________ tone toward _____________________.” For example, in this excerpt from an essay by Pico Iyer, “The Joy of Less,” Iyer takes on a peaceful and sentimental tone toward living with few possessions:

[M]y family home in Santa Barbara burned to the ground some years ago, leaving me with nothing but the toothbrush I bought from an all-night supermarket that night. And yet my two-room apartment in nowhere Japan seems more abundant than the big house that burned down. I have time to read the new John le Carré while nibbling at sweet tangerines in the sun. When a Sigur Ros album comes out, it fills my days and nights, resplendent. And then it seems that happiness, like peace or passion, comes most freely when it isn’t pursued.

If Iyer switched topics and began talking about people who spent all of their money on houses, cars, and jewelry, he might take on an indignant or sharp tone. While tone is the author’s attitude toward the subject, the other aspects of context affect it as well. The high school student in the example on p. 943 might take on a different tone toward the selection process now that she is older and less frustrated. Authors might approach a subject they feel strongly about very delicately, and use a soothing or complimentary tone, if they know their audiences don’t share their attitudes.

In a piece of literature, tone and context are linked in a very similar way, but it’s important to remember that often tone can be part of a character or narrator’s voice, and not indicate solely the author’s attitude; rather, the context that the tone reflects might be limited to events within the story. For instance, look at the opening lines from “Harrison Bergeron” (p. 872):

The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

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There is a dry humorous tone in the first few sentences that treats these developments as though they were a good thing. And yet, we know from reading the story that it’s a recipe for disaster; forced equality at the hands of the “agents of the United States Handicapper General” is not true equality. Is this Vonnegut’s tone? His narrator’s? Both? Vonnegut has given us the context of the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments within the story, which is clearly fictional, but we also get the sense that there is social commentary going on—that Vonnegut himself is satirizing the real world. There are no easy answers for identifying the context of literature and navigating the line between fact and fiction, so examining the tone that an author of a piece of literature takes toward a topic can be a real challenge. It is up to you as a careful reader and creative thinker to be attuned to the text, and use the analysis of tone as an opportunity for a nuanced and insightful interpretation.