The overall tone of Robert Frost’s poem titled “Out, out” can be described as exceptionally dramatic. The author is rather emotional about what happens to the main character and the reactions that beholders display. This genuine feeling of empathy is what moves the narrative forward and makes the audience feel remorse as well. The poor fortune that a young boy had to meet when doing a grown man’s job seems to surprise Frost, as he is in deep sorrow and does not believe that child labor is still a problem in contemporary society. Knowing that none of the adults intervened to prevent the kid’s death, the phrase “I wish they might have said” perfectly outlines how the witnesses were responsible for the boy losing his life to a saw (“‘Out, Out—’ by Robert Frost,” n.d.). The tone of hopelessness takes over the poem and points out how unpredictable human life is in general.
Even though people seem to forget the boy rather quickly, the tone of the second half of the poem makes it safe to say that Frost wanted to highlight how no child should be forced to do something that could only be assigned to an adult. The theme of child labor is the red thread that runs through the white cloth of Frost’s narration, causing the audience to become as horrified as the boy when he loses his hand. The main character of the poem reflects the idea of frustrations when he realizes that his manhood is going to be flawed with one of the hands being cut off. Closer to the end of the poem, the tone of narration changes one last time as soon as the severity of the wound becomes clear and the boy dies. The adult beholders were not interested since they “turned to their affairs” and went on with the errands (“‘Out, Out—’ by Robert Frost,” n.d.). Robert Frost made the audience read between the lines with this poem due to quite a few ideas being heavily concealed.
Reference
‘Out, out—’ by Robert Frost. Poetry Foundation. (n.d.). Web.