Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Dark, No-nonsense, Cynical
The tone of Red Harvest is super light-hearted and fun and…
… oh we just can't pull that off. This stuff is dark.
First of all, since Red Harvest is written in first person, the tone of the novel has to sound like the Op's rough speech. We know the Op is cynical, detached, and down-to-earth, so it makes sense that his narration would have a dark, no-nonsense tone. The Op's matter-of-fact attitude usually comes off sounded raw and harsh. Let's take a look at how he describes the prize-fighting scene to get a better idea of his cynical tone:
Poisonville's prize fighting was done in a big wooden ex-casino in what had once been an amusement park on the edge of town. When I got there at eight-thirty, most of the population seemed to be on hand, packed tight in close rows of folding chairs on the main floor, packed tighter on benches in two dinky balconies.
Smoke. Stink. Heat. Noise. (9.51)
Pay attention to the four words that appear in that last line. What's the effect of reading a string of nouns right after the claustrophobia-inducing description of the prize-fighting ring? Well, we think that by listing in quick succession these four one-syllable nouns, the Op gets right down to business and tells us all we need to know in as few words as possible.
The passage starts off sounding detached and no-nonsense, but by the time we get to that last sentence, there is something ominous about the four nouns. The cigar smoke, the body heat, the loud yells, and the stink both of bodies and of money (figuratively speaking of course) all combine together to create a sinister and foreboding atmosphere. By writing Red Harvest from the point-of-view of the Op, Hammett creates an overall tone of cynicism as the Op struggles to survive in the ruthless world of Poisonville.