What is the tone of this passage from "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury and how does the author set this tone? The mood I got was uneasiness, but I'm not sure.
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"I don’t know anything," he said, "except that I’m beginning to be sorry we bought that room for the children. If children are neurotic at all, a room like that—"
"It’s supposed to help them work off their neuroses in a healthful way."
"I’m starting to wonder." He stared at the ceiling.
"We’ve given the children everything they ever wanted. Is this our reward—secrecy, disobedience?"
"Who was it who said, ‘Children are carpets, they should be stepped on occasionally’? We’ve never lifted a hand. They’re insufferable—let’s admit it. They come and go when they like; they treat us as if we were offspring. They’re spoiled and we’re spoiled."
"They’ve been acting funny ever since you forbade them to take the rocket to New York a few months ago."
"They’re not old enough to do that alone, I explained."
"Nevertheless, I’ve noticed they’ve been decidedly cool toward us since."
"I think I’ll have Dave McClean come tomorrow morning to have a look at Africa."
"But it’s not Africa now, it’s Green Mansions country and Rima."
"I have a feeling it’ll be Africa again before then."
A moment later they heard the screams.
Two screams.Two people screaming from downstairs.And then a roar of lions.
"Wendy and Peter aren’t in their rooms," said his wife.
He lay in his bed with his beating heart. "No," he said. "They’ve broken into the nursery."
"Those screams—they sound familiar."
"Do they?"
"Yes, awfully."
I'd say uneasiness bordering on fear — with fear replacing uneasiness as the story goes on.
Clearly Bradbury sets that tone in the storyline (going from bad to worse) as well as by the words he used in dialogue.
You may get further ideas from this book review:
http://bestsciencefictionstories.com/2008/02/21/the-veldt-by-ray-bradbury/
Thank you
You're welcome!
Well, this was the original question from my teacher, so I got a bit confused:
Carefully reread the passage. Write an essay describing the tone Bradbury sets and analyzing how he creates that particular mood.
I just need a second opinion on what the tone is and a bit of help explaining how the author expresses it.
This is difficult. I know how he sets the tone I'm just struggling to make it into a full essay :/
The link you provided in the second one is unavailable.
First of all, look up the differences between TONE and MOOD here:
https://literary-devices.com/
Use the left column of links as the table of contents.
Let me know what you think.