Previous
Style
Definition of Tone
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical, and so on. For instance... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical... read full definition
Tone
Explanation and Analysis:
The tone of “After Twenty Years” is simultaneously ironic and sincere. The story has a classic O. Henry plot twist that centers on situational irony—as Bob realizes that his old friend Jimmy set him up to be arrested—and also earnestly explores the ways that people can grow apart as time goes on, as seen in Jimmy and Bob’s divergent paths (with Jimmy becoming a reliable New York City police officer and Bob becoming a criminal).
This combination of ironic and sincere tones comes across from the very first lines of the story:
The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. The impressiveness was habitual and not for show, for spectators were few. The time was barely 10 o’clock at night, but chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had well nigh depeopled the streets.
Though subtle, there is a hint of verbal irony in the first two lines of this passage, as the narrator repeats their description of Jimmy as “impressive.” A former convict himself, O. Henry is known for critiquing policing and prisons in his fiction, and his description of Jimmy “impressively” performing the simple act of walking down a street can be read as slightly mocking.
The narrator’s tone then becomes more earnest as they describe how Jimmy’s “impressiveness was habitual and not for show, for spectators were few,” implying that Jimmy is not the type of police officer who over-performs his role in order to intimidate or impress people. The description of the “chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them” also shifts the tone from an ironic or mocking one into an earnest (and slightly unsettling) one.
Related Themes:
