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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 Management of Grief” is primarily depressive and numb. This is because the story is narrated from the perspective of a woman (Shaila) who has just lost her husband and two sons in a horrific terrorist bombing. While some people experience grief as large waves of emotion, Shaila feels numb for months after the bombing, unable to fully face her feelings about her loss.
The story’s depressive tone comes across in the following passage, as Shaila reacts to the government social worker Judith Templeton telling her that, due to her calmness, she could be a model for other people who lost loved ones in the attack:
I want to say to her, I wish I could scream, starve, walk into Lake Ontario, jump from a bridge. “They would not see me as a model. I do not see myself as a model.”
I am a freak. No one who has ever known me would think of me reacting this way. This terrible calm will not go away.
Shaila’s emotionless tone comes across in the calm way she thinks about starvation and suicide, her simple repetitious response to Judith (“They would not see me as a model [...] I do not see myself as a model”), and the way she avoids naming any feelings she is having, apart from noting the “terrible calm” that “will not go away.”
It is notable that here, as throughout the story, Shaila wishes that she could experience more emotion and really let herself grieve, while Judith—a representative of bureaucratic white Canadian approaches to grief—lauds her for her calmness. This is Mukherjee’s way of highlighting the different cultural approaches to grief while subtly critiquing the white North American preference for calmness and control in the face of loss.
Related Themes:
