Tone and Mood: In the prologue, the tone is cryptic and tragic. Claudia has an awful story to tell us, but will tell it on her own terms. Thus, heading into the autumn chapter, the mood is warily anticipatory. During the third-person omniscient sequences, the tone is explanatory, reflective, and distantly sympathetic, as the narrator doesn’t have a personal connection to the characters whose stories they’re telling, but still empathizes with their plights. The result is a mood that is largely dependent on the events transpiring. So for example during Cholly’s rape of his daughter, the narrator’s tone is a studied calm, but the mood is horrified disgust as Cholly assaults Pecola.