Tears of a Tiger is a young adult novel written by Sharon Draper and first published in 1994. The story tells about the life of a boy named Andy, who suffers from depression. His condition is caused by a car accident due to which one of his friends passed away. Andy, as well as his friends, were all drunk during their car ride, which is why the boy blames himself. The novel is extremely important, as it covers such topics and issues as grief, loss, and depression. Among other things, the novel demonstrates how important it is to pay attention to the condition of someone’s close ones, hence none of Andy’s friends knew how much he suffered. Finally, the author of the novel narrates the story using different styles, such as clippings from magazines and newspapers, first-person narration, and much more. At the same time, the figurative and connotative language used in Tears of a Tiger has a certain impact on the overall mood and tone of the novel.
The figurative language closely intertwines the entire plot of the story of Andy and sets the overall tone of the novel. Figurative language is often used to exaggerate something or to highlight the importance and dramatic nature. In this sense, many characters of the book exaggerate certain events. For example, in one scene, Rhonda remarks that their school is very old, saying that it was built a million years ago (Draper, 1994). Moreover, school students often use metaphors or figurative language when communicating with each other. Thus, the author of the novel emphasized that all of them are still children, who tend to exaggerate the significance of certain events.
Among other things, figurative language helps to create the tone of the entire novel. The story itself is very heavy and sad, as deals with mental trauma, grieve, and loss. The characters of the novel are still young students, who had to face the terrible consequences of what they thought was nothing. In this sense, using figurative language, the author emphasizes how depressing are the events in which the characters found themselves. Thus, various metaphors, hyperbole, and other techniques allow the reader to experience the same emotions that Andy and his friends are experiencing.
Finally, the tone of the novel is also created by using connotative language. Connotations help to describe certain events or objects using an associative series. Moreover, connotations can be positive and negative, and most often become stable expressions. Thus, in Tears of a Tiger, Sharon Draper resorts to using negative connotations to demonstrate all the drama and depressiveness of the circumstances. In this sense, the image of tears is qualitatively traced throughout the novel. The phrase “It’s okay to put dragons in the jungle and tears on a tiger” could serve as a great example (Draper, 1994). This quote demonstrates that there is nothing wrong with crying or grieving.
In conclusion, it becomes possible to determine that the novel Tears of a Tiger is permeated with many stylistic techniques. In addition to symbolism and themes, the book is written in both figurative and connotative language. All these tools help the author to set the overall tone of the story, while the reader can better understand the emotions and experiences of the characters. Thus, Sharon Draper tells the story of the difficult fate of the main character Andy, who suffers from severe depression caused by the death of his friend. It becomes obvious that the overall tone of the book should be dark, sad, and depressing. In this regard, various figurative and connotational techniques help the author to create the right atmosphere and tone.
Reference
Draper, S. M. (1994). Tears of a Tiger. Simon Pulse.