When identifying tone in a story or novel, you are looking at how the subject matter is treated by the narrator. Mood is the feeling you get from the story. In the novel Rumble Fish the narrator is the protagonist Rusty-James. The tone of this story is informal and conversational; Rusty-James does not speak with perfect grammar; the story is written the way the character would speak. Rusty-James is not very smart or educated, so the narration reflects that. He uses short sentences and contractions. When he meets Steve at the beginning he states, "I can't remember much about it. Like I said, my memory's screwed up some". His tone is also very matter-of-fact. He does not get emotional or personal; he just relates the facts of the story to the reader.