The Grapes of Wrath - Tone

Some would argue that the best way to judge an authors writing ability is to assess his tone when writing a novel. Dictionary.com says that tone is "an accent peculiar to a person, people, locality ect." It sounds like tone, when referring to writing style, is different for each author. So what makes the tone of this novel so great? Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath was pretty long, there is no arguing there. But why was it so long? It seemed like the story was essentially about nothing! It just told about the story of a family heading west to escape the drowning economy in central America. But how did Steinbeck tell that story? That all depended on his tone. Steinbeck used soooo manyyyy detailsssss. If he would have used less detail, or maybe only described something once instead of repeating it 56847694749575 times, the book would have been much shorter and more concise. It would have been easier to read, but it would have lacked the tonal quality that Steinbeck is known for. The details were used to really drive the main point of the novel home for the reader. The tone of the story was there to make sure that the story's point was not missed. Steinbeck wrote about all of the troubles that the Joads faced, and yet, they never gave up. I started to get stubborn vibes from the Joads. The tone of the story could almost be considered stubborn. Steinbeck made sure that the reader knew how much trouble the Joads were going through and that they weren't going to give up, and he depicted that through the tone of the story. Since the Joads aren't the center of attention in every chapter, the chapters that focus more on the history are written with a passionate tone. Steinbeck really truly believed in every thing that he wrote, and it was obvious when reading it. The tone of the story was very important in truly understanding the message of the story.

Steinbeck, John, and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.