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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 The Invisible Man is matter-of-fact. The narration is very straightforward and has no room for flowery prose. Even when objects are described thoroughly, the narrative does not attempt to be overly abstract. To that end, the similes and metaphors are spread out, and the ones that are used (for instances, comparisons of Griffin's appearance to a diving helmet or to a lobster) have a comedic spin.
With this in mind, the tone, in addition to being matter-of-fact, is humorous and sardonic. The premise itself has a comedic angel to it, since there are many comedic mishaps that can arise from someone being invisible. Throughout the novel, there are chase scenes, misunderstandings, and individuals tripped with no visible obstacle.
Although the violence is sometimes serious, it often reads more like slapstick. The image of a mob of people running after items of clothing, people being hit in the nose by invisible foes, or objects falling of seemingly their own accord, are absurd situations that would be at home in a work of comedy. Therefore, it is fitting that the narration has a rather comedic tone. In keeping with this, there are also examples of irony, (situational, verbal, and dramatic) and various other jests in this novel that add to the overall darkly comedic tone.
