The tone of a novel is defined as a way in which the author expresses his or her attitude towards story elements such as characters, setting, or situation. Tone is present in every novel written by any author, as it is this literary device that sets the mood of the story for the reader. Henry James uses tone very effectively in the novel The Turn of the Screw. The story begins with a joyful and dreamy mood, then becomes scary and furious in the middle and ends with sadness and mourning at the end. Changes in tone are caused by changes in the housekeeper's attitude and actions. At the beginning of The Turn of the Screw, the tone is very joyful and dreamy. The story begins with Douglas and his friends telling each other scary stories. It's very peaceful and everyone enjoys the stories being told. The tone is very joyful as represented by “Isn't anyone going? It was almost the tone of hope. They will all stay!” (James, 6). This shows that everyone enjoys telling each other scary stories and is willing to stay and wait for Douglas' story. There was a lot of hope because the stories told were enjoyable for the people around the fire. The tone remains positive at the beginning of the housekeeper's story. The housekeeper comes home and sees this beautiful girl who is very polite and too good for herself. The housekeeper is very happy that she was able to get the job and experience everything that she believes is almost a dream. This is demonstrated when she talks about a place that would somehow, to diversify your idea, take all the color out of storybooks and fairy tales” (James, 16). This shows that the housekeeper believes that everything, like Bly, the place where they are s...... middle of paper ......clusion, the state of mind represents that the housekeeper has truly given up on the children and it is very sad that nothing else can be done to help them and get rid of the ghosts that haunt them. In conclusion, the changes in the housekeeper's actions and attitudes cause the tone to change throughout the novel. The tone starts out being joyful and dreamy, then furious in the middle and sad at the end. All this concludes that the literary device tone is very effective in portraying the atmosphere of the story to the reader through the actions of the characters. Tone is perhaps one of the most important literary tools used by the author to connect the atmosphere of the story to the heart of the reader and make them really feel the characters and what they go through. Works Cited James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Stories. Bantam ed. classic. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1983. Print.