Read the excerpt from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Respond to the prompt that follows.
John Reed was a schoolboy of fourteen years old, four years older than I, for I was but fen: large and stout for his age, with a dingy and unwholesome skin; thick lineaments in a spacious visage, heavy limbs and large extremities. He
gorged himself habitually at the table, which made him bilious, and gave him a dim and bleared eye and flabby cheeks. He ought now to have been at school, but his mama had taken him home for a month or two, "on account of his
delicate health." Mr. Mies, the master, affirmed that he would do very well if he had fewer cakes and sweetmeats sent him from home, but the mother's heart turned from an opinion so harsh, and inclined rather to the more refined
idea that John's sallowness was owing to over-application and, perhaps, to pining after home.
John had not much affection for his mother and sisters, and an antipathy to me. He bullied and punished me; not two or three times in the week, nor once or twice in the day, but continually every nerve I had feared him, and evely
morsel of flesh in my bones shrank when he came near. There were moments when I was bewildered by the terror he inspired, because I had no appeal whatever against either his menaces or his inflictions; the servants did not like
to offend their young master by taking my part against him, and Mrs. Reed was blind and dear on the subject: she never saw him strike or heard him abuse me, though he did both now and then in her very presence, more frequently,
however, behind her back.
In a paragraph of 5-7 sentences, accomplish the following:
• identify the tone of the passage
• explain how the author's diction, including connotation and figurative language devices, helped to communicate the tone