Final answer:
The mood (option b) is the feeling that the reader interprets from a story, whereas the tone is the author's attitude toward the subject or audience as conveyed through their writing. The author's style and word choice shape the tone and by extension, influence the reader's mood. Sequence is the order of events in the story, unrelated to tone or mood.
Step-by-step explanation:
Understanding Tone and Mood in Literature
The feeling that the reader interprets from the story is known as the mood. Contrary to mood, the tone of a story is the author's attitude or outlook toward the subject matter or audience as conveyed through their writing style. The tone is crafted through word choice, sentence structure, and details in the narrative, potentially influencing the overall mood of the reader.
For instance, choosing to describe a setting using words like gloomy, dismal, or bleak can establish a story's tone as somber or depressing. This, in turn, affects the mood by evoking similar feelings of sadness or melancholy in the reader. Conversely, words like radiant, buoyant, or blissful can create a light-hearted tone and a cheerful mood. An author's style—their vocabulary, use of imagery, and narrative voice—plays a crucial role in shaping the tone. Whether a piece of writing has a humorous, ironic, cold, or dramatic tone can greatly impact the reading experience and the feelings it conjures. For example, a story told in a sarcastic tone may invoke amusement or detachment depending on the reader's interpretation and the context of the story. Ultimately, while the sequence of events in a story provides the structure, it is the author's style and chosen tone that guides the reader's emotional journey, making the interaction with the text a personalized and engaging experience.