For example, if the events that occurred in The Things They Carried were described in a newspaper, we might understand what happened, who died, and what was statistically important, but probably not the it would be told why certain things happened, how people felt about these things, and what emotional toll the soldiers bore. In this particular story, tone serves as a spotlight that illuminates the informational aspects of the literature. In other words, because of the casual and personal tone of this particular story, certain things need to be said; we readers must be aware of certain thoughts and feelings of the characters in the story; this information is neither granted to us nor expected of us when we pick up a newspaper and read about war. The tone of the lines “…just then Ted Lavender got hit in the head on his way back from peeing” (612 ) and “The guy is dead,” he kept saying, which seemed profound: the guy is dead. I mean really” (612) gives the reader a chance to see the death of Ted Lavender as one of the members of his platoon. We feel somewhat of what it would have been like to stand there with those men and see a friend die right before our eyes, but we also learn that while some of the men waited for Lavender's body to be taken away, they sat there “...smoking the dope of the dead” (615). This sense of numbness, or perhaps more desensitization, is not evident in the simple facts of Lavender's death, but the tone of the story allows us to see things and understand aspects of the characters that wouldn't be possible if the basic factual information were the same . only source to draw from. Learning that Lavender's companions took the drug from her body is a surprise to the reader and may go against... middle of paper... wars and death of loved ones, or like those in a Greek tragedy, but who writes This poem is so sincerely touched by the pain and tragedy that permeate his daily life, to the point that the death of a toad while mowing a lawn is seen as something touching and grave. While The Death of a Salesman, The Things They Carryed and The Death of a Toad are different in format and style, the use of tone in each achieves the same goal: to reveal motivation, emotion and feeling or, in other words , reveal the human side. of literature. All three of these works have very simple plots, but still convey very complex messages about humanity. Regardless of the length or plot of a piece of writing, tone can be used to color and illuminate words and facts, to make them more than just static pieces of text; can transform them into dynamic literary works.