Hannah Betts Ghost Stories: There Was Something About My New House

For example, the author narrates, “He moped through the whole day at school. He couldn’t answer any questions nor read any words. He couldn’t even tell anyone the pony was sick, for that might make him sicker. And when school was finally out he started home in dread” (26). This demonstrates how helpless Jody felt during his pony’s sickness. Also, the text implies that the tone is meant to be depressing since the author uses pessimistic writing while describing Jody’s day at school. Furthermore, Steinbeck narrates, “Below, in one of the little clearings in the brush lay the red pony. In the distance, Jody could see the legs moving slowly and compulsively. And in a circle around him stood the buzzards, waiting for the moment of death they know so well” (35). This shows the suspenseful moment when Jody spots the pony just as it is about to die. Also, the reader can predict the emotions that are stirring inside Jody at the moment as he witnesses his first pony succumb. To sum up, the suspenseful and depressing tones contribute to making the story more enjoyable as well as much more

In the story “The Hitchhiker,” Lucille Fletcher uses foreshadowing to build a mood. The mood of it would be discovering. In the story the Hitchhiker Fletcher used foreshadowing to show how Adams felt about the hitchhiker here are some examples. In the story it said “Personally, I’ve never met anybody who didn’t like a good ghost story.”( Fletcher 1) This shows that she is foreshadowing that the story is going to be about a ghost. For another example from the story “ Oh, it isn't that. It’s-it’s just the trip. Ronald, I wish you weren’t driving.”( Fletcher 2) This shows that something bad is going to happen because his mom does not want him to

What is the author’s tone? Describe his writing style and how you believe it helps create tone? The authors tone changes throughout the book. He stays very optimistic except for a few instances when his mind tells himself that he is going to die and is giving him negative thoughts. His tone is also very different when he is having flashbacks to his time hiking with friends or when he is remembering events that occurred with his family. During his flashbacks he is genially happy. He has so much love for his family and for hiking and it is so evident because even with the situation he is in he still reflects on the most amazing times of his life instead of being pessimistic about the situation he is in. His writing style is very knowledgeable and detailed. He uses several literary devices such as personification, illusion and imagery to help with the tone. His writing style helps create tone because his optimistic outlook on everything gives people hope and it shows that even in the worst of situations if you are positive you can make it

A tone is the way the author conveys his or her unstated attitudes toward the story. The tone from the beginning to the end of Samuel is a serious tone. “Some boys are very tough. They’re afraid of nothing. The description Paley gives in the first two sentences makes you feel that the tone is going to be serious. Another example can be when the ladies in subway car become angry when they look at the boys. “Most of them brought their brows together and hoped the boys could see their disapproval”. They convey the serious tone through the way they feel through facial expressions. Thoughts of one of the women passenger’s shows a mothers concern when she attempts to confront the boys. “One of the ladies wanted to get up and say, be careful you dumb kids, get off the platform or I’ll call the cop.” The tone makes the situation serious tone even if it was thought and not an action. In another paragraph her action show the seriousness of the situation when thinks of her own child. “She stood up with determination and went to the door. Her action tells us that tone was not to be taken lightly and it was a serious matter.

The tone of a story, poem or novel is the way the author wants the reader to feel. Most people get the word mood and tone confused with each other, but the mood is the way the reader feels about the story, poem, or novel. In the novel the author’s tone is both suspenseful and sympathetic. For instance, it is suspenseful because Estrella wants to know what the chest filled with steel is for. Also, it is sympathetic because Estrella was being bullied by teachers and she did not realize it was happening until something hurt her feelings.

Tone is stated to be something that is “a general tone or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, ect…” Tone helps represent the writer or Narrator’s point or feeling throughout a story. In “Sixteen” by Maureen Daly, the Narrator of the story is a 16 year old girl talking about love and how blind people can be because of it. “Through the Tunnel”, by author Doris Lessing, on the other hand, is about an 11-year-old boy who creates his coming of age story by, literally, swimming through a tunnel. The distinction of plots and settings in these stories couldn’t be more different but similar tones throughout the stories almost bind them in a way. Similar tones in “Sixteen” and “Through the Tunnel” are:

After evaluating the work of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, he utilizes with imagery to build up the feeling of terror. First of all, the passage is about an ill man, Roderick Usher, who invites his old friend of his to come meet him. In this passage both him and his sister, Madeline Usher, are the last remaining of the Usher race and is diagnosed with an unnatural illness. The narrator begins to feel terror with the supernatural things going on in the house of Usher and the illness of the Ushers. Although the narrator feels the sense of terror from the moment he entered the house, through the use of imagery, Poe is able to bring emotion to the reader. Throughout the passage, the author continues to build up the sense of terror by asserting the image and setting of both the passage and the atmosphere. For instance, he starts the passage by stating “a dull, dark, and a soundless day...clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens” (Poe 194). In relation to the previous quote, the quote illustrates the image of the atmosphere and the setting of the story. In particular, because Poe expresses the sense of terror by describing the atmosphere as dark, quiet, and gloomy, the reader can get an image of the surroundings and get the feeling of the darkness and horror. In addition, according to Poe, during the first glimpse of the house of Usher, the narrator describes it as gloomy and unpleasant. In particular, Poe states “the shades of the evening drew on… a sense of insufferable gloom” (Poe 194). Additionally, the description of the house adds on to the sense of terror that Poe established in the beginning of the story. Based on the past two quotes stated by the author, the reader can begin to picture a dark and dull day with a gloomy house adding on to the darkness. Lastly, in regards to Edgar Allan Poe, the house of Usher is

In life, when someone goes through a moment of suspense, we may feel eager, excited, or nervous because suspense builds those feelings in us. In “Tell Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator is going through a feeling of mockery because of an old man’s eye. The narrator visits the old man’s room every night for seven nights to plan his murder. The man is showing and feeling lots of suspense. He feels eager and excited about finally ending a man’s life for his happiness of not seeing his vulture eye. But the suspense, in the end, is kicking into the guilt that the narrator has. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe uses description, inner thinking, and tone to build suspense.

A haunted house, or a house in which all is not as it seems, is a common trope of Gothic literature. This is due to the familiar nature of the home being distorted into something wholly uncanny. In The Fall of the House of Usher the past sin of the Usher family results in the ultimate demise of, not only the house, but also the Usher bloodline.

I utilized a lot of different writing elements in the suspense/scary story, the most obviously used element was foreshadowing. The phrase “It is how she would have wanted it” was repeated multiple times throughout the story, first starting as a seemingly insignificant piece of dialogue but ending as the last line of the story. There was also a lot of conflict, for example when George criticised James about the cleanliness of his house, or when James killed George. The way that James has been “feeding” his dead cat can be seen as a sort of unpleasant comical irony in that he is dumping food on his dead cat twice a day. I used mood throughout the entire story and tone specifically in the dialogue. By describing the setting “George took a deep first step into the basement. The staircase was worn with unstable boards and cracked

The setting plays a big role in the overall theme. First the dark room room makes a reason to why the narrator is scared. As its is said in the passage, " I lay in the dark" its makes her even more scared then having been in the light. Secondly the shadow moves quickly around her room as if were mad and charging towards her making her think it would kill her as she stated in in the passage "it would kill me." Finally she figures it out that it was a shadow of cars passing by late night on the streets. This gives her relief from what she has once feared which takes it back to the theme overcoming a fear by figuring out its true form. In conclusion some things that may not seems so scary could possibly become

Through the storytelling, the narrator communicates an overall tone that shifts from excitement and some embarrassment to seriousness. This can be seen in her behavior while retelling many stories about her past and then remembering that she is talking to her daughter and switching to a more serious motherly tone. The following excerpt shows the shift that also leads to a shift in the mood:

Unfamiliar horses were tied to the Homestead's posts, making a slightly injured Wynonna reach for Peacemaker, again. Revenants might not be allowed in Earpland anymore, but Wynonna was beginning to suspect not everything that wanted to kill her would be so explicit in nature.

First, this story’s suspenseful, eerie mood stirs powerful emotions from the reader. For example, M. Bouc gravely announced, “‘And now a passenger lies dead in his berth - stabbed’” (40). This is an example of an eerie mood that makes readers fear for Poirot. This also adds to this story because it gives readers an understanding of the character’s emotions; likewise, they can relate to Poirot’s fear in the story. Similarly, Mrs. Hubbard gasped, “‘A great knife - all over blood!’ And suddenly toppling over, she fainted heavily on on M. Bouc’s shoulder” (158). This is an example of a suspenseful mood that keeps the reader wondering what will happen next. Moreover, it strengthens the story because it helps the reader understand the message the author was trying to convey; had the mood been different, readers would have been more likely to suspect Mrs. Hubbard, considering the knife was in her room. In conclusion, mood adds to the overall greatness of this story by stirring up

The term tone, as it relates to literature is defined as the attitude portrayed by the author towards the subject or the audience. In the book Truevine, the attitude or tone in which the author Beth Macy portrays throughout the length of the story can be deemed as disapproving, dramatic, and sometimes even humorous. Macy chooses to approach the subject of racism in this manner to share her perspective on racial discrimination and exploitation, and to also add flavor to the writing. For example, to address certain topics such as lynching in a condemning manner goes to show how the author is in disagreement with the heinous act, and it not a white supremacist. In general, denouncing wanton historical acts that involve racism, infers that the author is against racism; a lot of readers were glad that Beth Macy was able to depict the immorality behind racism. In addition, while reading the book, one thing that I noted was the dramatic writing. Especially, when it came to ending of certain chapters, it felt like reading a mediocre cliff hanger, or a subtle page tuner. The dramatic tone was also used to describe “climatic events”, like when Harriet was reunited with her boys and such. Seldom, there was also a subliminal amount humor that kind be found in Macy’s writing. Considering the book’s topic, you’d think someone would find that humor inappropriate, but when inserted it was actually quite fitting.