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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
One (1934): Around the World in Eighty Days
Explanation and Analysis:
The narrator in All the Light We Cannot See floats ephemerally above the characters' heads, engaging in imaginative speculation and using vivid sensory imagery to embody each character's trademark method of "seeing" the world. While Doerr's narrator can traverse any point of view or perspective, they do so rather obliquely, using a philosophical tone as opposed to a deterministic one.
As a means of establishing narrative tone in the novel, Doerr frequently uses free indirect discourse—a style of writing wherein the author will fuse the voice of the narrator with the voice of a character, taking on that character's point of view or verbal cadence without quoting said character directly. Take, for example, the following passage from Section One, in which Marie-Laure speaks to several children who are curious about her blindness:
The children she meets brim with questions: Does it hurt? Do you shut your eyes to sleep? How
do you know what time it is?
It doesn’t hurt, she explains. And there is no darkness, not the kind they imagine. Everything is
composed of webs and lattices and upheavals of sound and texture.
Doerr uses this way of writing to emphasize the universality of his narrator: akin to radio waves, or Marie-Laure's imaginative musings, the narrator transcends a single body or character. The narrator can also connect with anyone, or speak from any perspective, representing in many regards Doerr's thematic fascination with serendipity, imagination, and human connection.
The narrator's presence in All the Light We Cannot See is obvious, yet not aggressively felt. Though Doerr's narrator philosophizes, their remarks do not feel didactic; rather, they feel akin to the imaginative musings of a drifting mind.
Related Themes:
