Two essential parts of analyzing literature is being able to identify the tone and mood within a text. Not only is this important to learn how to identify in written work but by doing so a person also increases their ability to see it in others that they converse with. By practicing analyzing tone and mood an individual practices empathy and sympathy. Empathy is the act of feeling and understanding what someone else is going through emotionally. Sympathy is the act of feeling pity or sorrow for someone else’s misfortune. Both emotions are important in building healthy relationships in the real world whether it be with friends or a significant other.
What is tone?
Tone is the author or character’s attitude. Have you ever been told, “Don’t take that tone with me!” by a parent or teacher? What they are referring to is the attitude you were using when speaking to them. That is tone in literature. Being able to understand a person’s tone in a text enables the reader to better understand what is happening within the plot and conflict of the story and infer or predict what will happen in the future of the story based on how the author or character is acting/speaking.
What is mood?
Mood is how the text makes the reader feel. It’s the atmosphere created within the text that helps the reader connect to the story on an emotional level making it more real and authentic. Mood functions by helping bring the story to life and is utilized through things like setting, imagery, diction, genre and plot, and also the text’s tone. It is important for an author to be able to use mood effectively because it helps control the feelings that the work evokes in readers.
As you can see the tone and mood are very similar. You may notice they use the exact same language. What I want you to take away from his lesson is that:
Tone = author/character’s attitude
Mood = The emotions/feelings that the work evokes in readers
Mr. Freeman’s World Of Teaching: Home page 
Leave a comment