Raul Sotelo

Mr.Cook
ELA
Dec 12, 2014
IA Essay of Tone
If losing everything for a person a choice would you take it? Are you willing to take the
consequences head-on? Will you ever regret doing that for a family of your own? The short story
The visitor by Daniel Alarcon is about a family that had just witnessed an earthquake. The
main character struggles to survive with his family gathering supplies for medicine and shelter.
The main character and his young kids plan to make a shelter near the cemetery where his wife
was buried. A few days later a man appears, a hiker from the mountain and gives them news
about the town being wiped out. The literary devices being used affect the tone are imagery and
symbolism.
Imagery in the story describes how the the town is completely destroyed and only rubbles
remain, From the hill we could see the remains of the valley, and the sharp scar where the
mountain has slipped (Alarcon). The description of how the town was destroyed affects the
town by the main character feeling desperate and in a survival mindset. The This affect the tone
by the character optimistic over the surrounding looking forward to do better things, I smiled.
We counted thirteen parachutes drops in one day, I said (Alarcon). The way the main
character speaks shows he might have lost many things that day, but they could still survive. His
optimistic enthusiasm is what makes the character more willing to survive.
Another literary device that affects the tone is symbolism. The wife is a symbol for hope
and safety. The mother gives the main character hope because of the way he is willing to find
supplies in order to survive. He can hug his kids and leave knowing they will be there, I took
two of the longest planks and told the children to wait for me (Alarcon). The tone is affected by

this because after losing a person feelings that affect the tone is being heartbroken. The symbol
of the wife also affects the tone by feeling more encouraged to be safe and alive, I held our
three children close to me...we worried about our children...we would never leave. This was
home (Alarcon). This quote elaborates by using more united and strong tones. The tone can
change the main character the way he speaks and helps those people around him.
Literary devices affect the tone of the story by the way a person speaks and the
description about the surroundings. The literary devices of symbolism and imagery affect the
tone by the way it characters interact and how they speak. Tone is affected in more ways with
literary devices. The description mostly influences the way the tone is being represented.