Tone and Mood Workshop
Of Mice and Men
Name: ______________________________________________ Date: ______________________________ Hour: ___________
Tone: Tone is the implied attitude or disposition of an author (sometimes expressed by his/her
characters) about something. Tone is expressed by the language used in the piece. This is
often discerned by the context clues. *NOTE: Tone can be seen in individual lines of a text
and in the text as a whole: in many shorter pieces, the tone is constant throughout whereas
in longer pieces the tone sometimes shifts.* (see the “words to describe tone” handout to
help you with this workshop)
For example…
“Alright,” huffed Sara “I’ll go to your concert.”
“Alright,” Sara said with a smile, “I’ll go to your concert.”
Mood: Mood is the feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage. The mood is often
suggested by descriptive details (such as setting). The mood can also be seen by examining the tone
and detecting how the author wants you to feel about the subject.
For example...
Think of the background music in a movie. In Jaws the slow, eerie music creates suspense just
before the shark comes to attack.
Instructions: Describe the tone the author uses in the following quotes. In addition, explain why
you selected that tone word and what that tone shows about the author’s perspective (think about
the main themes from the novel).
1. "I remember about the rabbits, George."
"The hell with the rabbits. That’s all you can ever remember is them rabbits." (1.18-19)
2. “Lennie watched him with wide eyes, and old Candy watched him too. Lennie said
softly, "We could live offa the fatta the lan’."
"Sure," said George. "All kin’s a vegetables in the garden, and if we want a little whisky
we can sell a few eggs or something, or some milk. We’d jus’ live there. We’d belong
there. There wouldn’t be no more runnin’ round the country and gettin’ fed by a Jap
cook. No, sir, we’d have our own place where we belonged and not sleep in no bunk
house." (3.202-203)
Tone and Mood Workshop
3. GEORGE "I wish I could put you in a cage with about a million mice an’ let you have fun."
His anger left him suddenly. He looked across the fire at Lennie’s anguished face, and
then he looked ashamedly at the flames. (1.89)
4. GEORGE "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They
got no family. They don’t belong no place. They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake and
then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re
poundin’ their tail on some other ranch. They ain’t got nothing to look ahead to."
(1.113)
5. Crooks had reduced himself to nothing. There was no personality, no ego—nothing to
arouse either like or dislike. He said, "Yes, ma’am," and his voice was toneless. (4.120121)
6. Pick one of the following concepts to answer the following question with. Describe the
tone the author uses when he discusses the following concepts. In your response, cite
specific examples from the text to support your opinion.
a. Poverty
c. Social Standing
f. Friendship
b. Mental
d. Violence
Disability
e. Freedom
7. Mood is often confused with tone. In reality, tone is needed to be understand mood.
Describe the mood in Of Mice and Men. In your response, make sure to differentiate
between tone and mood. Furthermore, explain how the tone adds to the reader’s
understanding of the mood. Identify and analyze various sections from Of Mice and Men
that demonstrate the overall mood of the piece. (This is where you should get your
setting sheet out from the beginning of the unit and look at the way the setting is
described and determine how that contributes to mood).