THE TONE OF A SETTING
When having a conversation with someone it is easy to know how they are feeling by the
tone in their voice. If a person is being funny, they tend to have a smile on their face,
but when a person is angry about a particular subject, the tone of their voice becomes
extremely loud and overbearing. While reading novels or short stories the characters tone
is distinguishable because of the author's use of exclamation points or italicized words.
These make the reader understand the characters emotions and feelings throughout the
entire book. As for poems, the tone is not as recognizable. A reader is not capable of
understanding the tone from just simply glancing at a few words. The tone is derived from
several words and attitudes that the poet conveys to their reader. Poets, Pat Mora and
Anthony Grooms, both use tone in their poems, but only one tone changes with the different
setting, while the other tone remains constant.
In Pat Mora's, "Elena," the speaker is a Mexican woman who explains how her
life has changed due to her and her family moving to the United States. The first line in
the poem brings a slight negative tone, "My Spanish isn't enough." Right away
the reader is brought into this poem believing that the speaker believes that she isn't
good enough because she takes ownership of the word Spanish. Had she had not taken
ownership of Spanish, then the reader would be lead to believe that Spanish alone isn't
enough. The next five lines following takes the reader back to Mexico, where the speaker
is originally from. When the speaker talks of Mexico, it is with delight and fondness,
shifting the tone of the poem. The speaker would "smile" (Line 2) at the sounds
of her "little ones" (Line 3) as they would tell, "their jokes, their
songs, their plots" (Line 5). The words, 'jokes,' 'smiles,' and "dulces"
(Line 6), enhance the tone of the setting as an enjoyable one. Then, with a dramatic turn
the speaker says, "But that was in Mexico" (Line 7). The word 'but' gives the
reader a hint that the tone of the speaker is altering once again, going back to the tone
in the very beginning line.
The remainder of the poem's setting takes place in the United States, where the speaker
and her family now reside. Living in the United States, the speaker's miserable tone
results from the fact that she feels alienated from her children, but now they, "go
to American high schools/ They speak English" (Line 8-9). English, a language she
does not understand and is, "embarrassed at mispronouncing words" (Line 16).
This barrier of language has broken off a major form of communication between her children
and her. There once was a time when she would laugh along with her children as they told
jokes, but now all she can do is, "stand by the stove and feel dumb, alone"
(Line 11). The speaker's setting has distorted her self image. The fact that she now feels
dumb is a completely different feeling from how she felt in Mexico where she,
"understood every word they'd say" (Line 4). Yearning for that familiarity of
the bond between her children and herself she, "bought a book to learn English"
(Line 12). This is her only way to adjust to her new setting and because she feared that
one day she, "will be deaf/ when (her) children need (her) help" (Line 21-22).
In Anthony Grooms', "Homespace," the speaker's mind-set remains constant from
the setting that he had just returned from and in the new setting where the poem takes
place. In contrast to Mora's poem, Grooms' tone never alternates; it is a stable
conscience feeling of being in a war-like state of mind. The speaker has just returned
from the war, "My mother did not know me when I knocked./ She said her son was killed
in the war" (Line 1-2). The detail of him knocking on his mother's door, gives the
idea that he is not himself. His mother and father had a barbeque in his honor, but,
"when the fuel/ Exploded on the coals, (he) heard screams" (Line 4-5). For him
to hear such a horrifying sound allows the reader to understand in what types of
conditions he had to endure as a soldier in war. Even though the soldier should now feel a
sense of security, he continues to suffer from the emotional and psychological impact of
the war, "(he) watched the sky for the enemy" (Line 14). The poem has pieces of
a more cheery tone, such as, "Women and children laughed" (Line 12), but the
reader can only believe that the speaker is describing them as for a way to distinguish
the way he feels in comparison to civilians who don't realize what he and other soldiers
have been through. Because the speaker was trapped in a war-state-of-mind, the poem had no
way of changing the tone for a more pleasing one.
As shown, the tone of the poem can decipher where and how the speaker of the poem
experiences an individual place. The tone in Mora's poem facilitated the idea of the
speaker's attitude towards two distinct locations. On the other hand, Grooms used tone to
illustrate the speaker's state of mind remaining the same because of the effects of war,
no matter his location. Tone is a way to aid the reader in understanding the positions and
behavior of the speaker, a character, or a location.
WORKS CITED
Grooms, Anthony. "Homespace." Bridges: Literature across Cultures.
Ed. Gilbert H. Muller and John A. Williams. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc, 1994.720.
Mora, Pat. "Elena." Bridges: Literature across Cultures. Ed. Gilbert
H. Muller and John A. Williams. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc, 1994. 547.
POSTSCRIPT
When did you actually begin writing? What prompted you or stopped you?
I began to write down ideas over the weekend. Looking through the book of poems, but not
really finding anything I really felt strongly about. On Monday I did the same thing, but
this time I actually found some ideas; only because I referred to my old lit. book from
English 131. The poems from this book jump out at me more than those in the assigned text
book. I began writing a rough draft on Tuesday. I got some stuff down, but I think it
seemed too jumbled and a mess. I know what I wanted to say, but it seemed as if it just
wasn't coming out on the paper. I was just blabbering. Then, at the most weirdest times,
while I was lying in bed, I came up with a different thesis and a different kind of twist
to use in my paper.
Any other points of note that occur to you while writing the paper.
As I began to write my paper I noticed that it wasn't so jumbled and messy. My paper
began to come together in a more organized and neat fashion. There wasn't a thought here,
some stuff here, and then the thought finished over there. As I was writing it, I actually
had a smile on my face. This quarter I haven't been that excited about a paper before, but
I think it has a lot to do with the poems I chose. Writing this seminar was a pleasure and
I felt very strongly about me as a writer more so than in the other papers.
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