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:
Long Day's Journey Into Night is a play that is more often about what is unsaid than what is said. The play is defined by the Tyrone family's deliberate silence over what's happening around them. This creates a tense tone that only becomes increasingly fraught as the play progresses. Each character seems gagged by their desire to keep the peace within the family, often speaking as if they don't want to break something fragile. The play's tone is thus delicate, stressed, and tightly controlled.
There are many cut-off sentences in which a character might allude to a more specific and touchy subject—Tyrone speaking to Edmund about suicide, for instance, or Edmund and Jamie discussing their mother's addiction. Because these sentences are stopped short, the audience is left without an answer to the characters' deeper feelings. O'Neill makes great use of this effect, which is more realistic in theater than in other forms. Indeed, there are no specific references in the play to morphine, addiction, or suicide, and hardly any to Tyrone's poverty. Instead, the characters treat these subjects vaguely, stopping just short of mentioning them explicitly. By the characters' insistence to avoid these subjects, the audience is left in unavoidable concern and fear.
Tyrone, in particular, has a tone of rote, practiced language. When James admonishes his children—which he does throughout the play—he sounds as if he's saying the same thing he's said dozens of times through the years. These include his general scoldings about life, money, and career. But most distinctly, they include his constant bemoaning of his sons' knowledge of Shakespeare. James, as a character, is defined in no small part by his belief in the value of memorizing words (usually by Shakespeare) and repeating them. This characteristic, indeed, helps form his tone into one that feels rote and repetitive.
