The tone of upbeat and innocence at the beginning works with the setting of summer in the south to establish the innocence of Myop. Myop is characterized as naive and carefree in the way she wondered around with only her song in search of a little independence. Whereas the shift in tone to knowledgeable and final at the end of the story works with the personification of the noose and the evil that surrounds innocence essentially to show the loss of innocence which establishes the overall theme of coming of age. The shift in tone from upbeat and innocence to knowledgeable and final also shows that independence is sometimes found with the knowledge of