The Depiction of Tone in The Turn of the Screw NovelThe purpose of tone is to express the author's attitude toward elements of a story, such as characters , the setting, or a situation. This literary device sets the mood of the story for the reader. 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 cheerful, then hostile, and ends up depressing. The tone changes due to changes in the housekeeper's attitude and actions. At the beginning of The Turn of the Screw, the tone is overall cheerful. Two specific tones that stand out are joyful and dreamy. The tone is joyful as the story begins with Douglas and his friends sitting around a campfire telling stories and having fun. Everyone is having fun and it seems like no one wants to go, although Douglas is unable to tell his story, which is the housekeeper's story of when she was hired to work at Bly until later. He asks “Doesn't anyone go? It was almost the tone of hope. They will all stay!” (James 6). This shows that the meeting is too wonderful to leave and that everyone enjoys the scary stories that are told. The tone here represents the mood of the characters around the fire, however it shifts to the housekeeper at the beginning of her story. Despite the change, the tone remains positive. The housekeeper arrives at the house called Bly and sees this beautiful girl who is extraordinarily well-mannered and is too good for herself. He thinks the house and the girl are a dream. This is demonstrated when the governess says, “a place that would somehow, to diversify the young idea, take all color out of storybooks and fairy tales” (James 16). This shows that the governess believes that… in the middle of the card… she is remembering the fact that she made a mistake and that it cost the boy his life. The overall tone at the end of the novel is depressing as the housekeeper's actions and attitudes regarding current events tend to reflect the tone of the situation. In conclusion, the changes in the housekeeper's actions and attitudes cause the tone to change throughout the novel. . The tone begins with cheerfulness, changes to hostile, and ends with sorrow. This concludes that the tone of the literary device effectively portrays the atmosphere of the story through the governess to the reader. The tone is perhaps the best literary device used by the author, to connect the atmosphere of the story to his heart. This in turn makes the reader feel closer to the characters in a story. Works Cited James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Stories. Bantam ed. classic. Toronto: Bantam Books, 1983. Print.