The representation of tone in Le Tour de visThe purpose of tone is to express the author's attitude towards the elements of a story, such as the characters, the setting, or a situation. This literary device gives the reader the mood of the story. Henry James uses tone effectively in the novel The Turn of the Screw. The mood of the story changes three times as the story progresses. It starts out happy, then hostile, and ends up depressing. The tone changes due to the changes in the governess's attitude and actions. At the beginning of The Turn of the Screw, the tone is generally happy. Two specific tones that stand out are happy and dreamy. The tone is cheerful as the story begins with Douglas and his friends sitting around a campfire telling stories and having a good time. Everyone is having fun and it seems like no one wants to go even though Douglas is unable to tell his story, which is the story of the governess when she was hired to work at Bly until later. He asks: “No one goes there? It was almost the tone of hope. Everyone will stay! (James 6). This proves that the meeting is too wonderful to leave and that everyone enjoys the scary stories being told. The tone here represents the mood of the characters around the campfire, but it shifts to the governess at the beginning of her story. Despite this change, the tone remains positive. The governess arrives at the house named Bly and sees this beautiful girl who is extraordinarily polite and too good for herself. She believes the house and the girl are a dream. This is proven when the governess says, “a place which, in one way or another, to entertain the young idea, would take all color out of story books and fairy tales” (James 16). This shows that the governess believes... middle of paper ...... remembers the fact that she made a mistake and it cost the boy his life. The overall tone of the end of the novel is depressing because the governess's actions and attitudes toward current events tend to reflect the tone of the situation. In conclusion, the changes in the governess's actions and attitudes cause the tone to change throughout the novel. . The tone begins joyful, becomes hostile, and ends with sorrow. This concludes that the tone of the literary device effectively describes the mood of the story through the governess to the reader. Tone is perhaps the best literary device the author uses to connect the mood of the story to its heart. This makes the reader feel closer to the characters in a story. Works Cited James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw and other short fictions. Bantam classic ed. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1983. Print.