Mood is the emotional attitude the author takes towards hir subject. Similar to Tone.
From Talkie List Dec 06
From: Kevin Collins
> He wants to know why it matters. Not knowing who the
> student is (but based on the title he/she is reading, I think it's a
> freshman), I'm wondering how to reply. Suggestions?
Valerie:
There are, I think, three different questions implied in his posting,
all of which are valid:
--The first is "why is it important that we students learn to
recognize mood?"
--The second is "do authors really try to set a mood with word
choice, etc.deliberately?"
--And, third "are readers truly affected by it?"
The answers to these questions focus on enlarging our students as
readers, consumers, creators, and interpreters of their culture.
#1. Certainly, the informed reader is a discriminating reader. An
educated person can recognize when he/she is being manipulated,
willingly or unwillingly, by an accomplished writer (or purveyor
of...whatever -- goods, ideas, policies). If a writer "sucks us in" to
a world in which we feel the tension, or the suspense, or the roll of
the waves, there is a transcendent pleasure there. And while it may be
true that a reader doesn't *need* to have the ability to recognize the
elements of the writer's craft to enjoy the experience, those who can
will have their experience enhanced because (if the author is good) the
experience is tinged with admiration. And if the writer is a hack, the
insightful reader will learn to recognize when he/she is being
manipulated just to sell copies.
#2. English teachers deal with this all the time. Most students
believe that writing "just happens" because that's how *they* write.
Even the most articulate explanations will fall by the wayside with many
kids, because they have yet to experience enough things to recognize
patterns of deliberate action, except at the mos obvious levels (this is
particularly true of freshmen and sophomores). All I can offer is one
of the earliest examples of "setting a mood": Homer's choice of "the
wine-dark sea" in _The Iliad_. Let us suppose that he had chosen "the
blood red sea," or "the glistening azure sea" instead. Each one clearly
connotes a different mood, and surely if we can assume Homer had many,
many descriptive words at his disposal, this particular pair had a
purpose.
#3. If he is a fan of "The Matrix," he should take a look at it again
and note how in the "real world," everything is tinged with blue and is
asymmetrical, while in the "matrix world," everything is tinged with
green and is often rigidly symmetrical. This was a deliberate choice of
the directors and the art director, to set the right mood with the
audience. Several hundred million dollars later, I think we can say
they made the right choice.
Kevin
From: Mary Tigner-Rasanen
i was thinking that it's very easy to see the impact of this with film. if
you showed your students two films of different mood - say The Sound of
Music and Blade Runner, and asked them how the films would be different if
the moods were switched - how the characters and our expectations of them
would change - it would be quite easy for them to see how important mood is
to the work, how it impacts the viewer, or in the case of written work, the
reader. it may be easier to talk about this with film because it's visual
and immediate (although mood can be set with music too - which is, again,
immediate). it is often not as easy with writing to sense the mood,
especially for inexperienced readers.
mary
I think the "implied" questions you suggested the student has are absolutely
correct. Reading between the lines of a student's words, especially in a blog
and not knowing who the student is, proves a challenge for me. I know even in
my creative writing classes in past, students struggle with the idea that an
author chose each word specifically, with an audience in mind. For me, mood
reveals the author's intention (at least a lot of the time). What is it about
audience that the writer has in mind when he's writing? How does he want
audience to be affected? How does he do this? Not knowing/noticing or caring
about an author's mood is akin to eating a gourmet dish prepared by a chef who
has spent hours cooking a dish all with the "audience" in mind. You eat it
and sure, it may be good, but you're missing such an enjoyable part of the
experience if you don't take note; like a dog who just wolfs things down.
But, with our society's emphasis on speed and efficiency, thus the market for
fast food, does it really matter?
With this discussion in mind, I'm wondering what you see as the finer
differences between mood and tone. Oh, I know the difference in technical
definition, but I wonder about the deeper differences. I know my AP teacher
says that in AP land, everything comes back to tone and she teaches this. It
reminds me of Marshall McCluhan's idea that the medium is the message (reading
I had to do in college and idea I struggled to understand but as I get older,
the more it makes sense). Do you think that holds just as true with words?
Valerie Person
From: Kevin Collins
> With this discussion in mind, I'm wondering what you see as the finer
> differences between mood and tone. Oh, I know the difference in
> technical
> definition, but I wonder about the deeper differences. I know my AP
> teacher
> says that in AP land, everything comes back to tone and she teaches
> this. It
> reminds me of Marshall McLuhan's idea that the medium is the message
> (reading
> I had to do in college an idea I struggled to understand but as I get
> older,
> the more it makes sense). Do you think that holds just as true with
> words?
>
=====
These are superb questions, Valerie. And I think your suggestion that
there is a connection between "tone" and McLuhan's maxim has merit,
though it had not occurred to me before.
Tone, unlike mood, may be inadvertent -- which connects to McLuhan's
"the medium is the message," since the intent of the communicator is
nearly irrelevant, at least as far as the cultural impact is concerned.
The author is often at the mercy of the events in his/her life, or
his/her age, etc., when crafting a work of literature.
For instance, Amy Tan has had second thoughts about some choices she
made regarding the use of the number four in _The Joy Luck Club_. She
still has a difficult time reconciling what may have been on her mind as
a first-time novelist when she wrote it, and the method with which she
has crafted her mature works.
Or, perhaps even more pertinent are the works of Kurt Vonnegut. In so
many of the Introductions to his novels, he will reflect upon the tone
of an earlier work with regret (and surprise), especially when he
reveals that readers have pointed out to him, for example, the
"suicidal" tone of his mid-60s novels.
As McLuhan noted, the content of a particular medium is another medium.
The content of video is print, and the content of print is
verbalization. We can also apply this to writers and readers, at
another level. "Reader response" theory holds that the interpretation
of a work of literature is based entirely on an individual reader's
interaction with the text -- in other words, the meaning of a work of
literature is based upon the content of the reader's mind at the moment
of textual interaction. In the same vein, the reason why a particular
sentence may have been crafted at a particular time in an author's life
may often only be clear in retrospect.
Anyway, I don't know if this is an answer as much as it is an
exploration inspired by your observation. Useful to think about,
though.
Kevin
From: Jan Bone
Valerie, you make the distinction--or at least, I'm
inferring that you do--between writing, and "creative
writing." Don't the kids realize that even in, and
maybe leave off "even," --in commercial writing,
audience and purpose are essential to reach the
intended audience? But it's far more than
that...writers on the commercial side (and I'd
suspect, repeat-sellers on the "creative" side) think
a great deal about who their audience is, and why
they're writing what they are writing.
Consider, for instance, the difference in tone between
he said, he alleged, he stated, he surmised, he told,
he shared, he suggested... and the difference the verb
choice makes in the audience/ reader reaction. That's
why you see "said" so much in newspapers and
reporting...it's the neutral verb, to do away with the
implications of the others.
There are so many things the commercial writer--I'm
defining this term as a person who's writing primarily
for pay, often for hire or as part of employment--has
to consider on audience...are the readers
subject-matter-experts, are they managers--in which
case, business-and money-related information on which
they'll make decision is important and played up--are
they technicians/tech people who care deeply about the
"how" something is done, in contrast to the
consequences of doing it,are they Reader's Digest-type
of lay people looking for entertainment or mild levels
of information? Consider those categories, and think
what they mean to the writer working to reach the
different audiences.
Interesting discussion - but don't let it stop at
"literature"... jan
Example: