The far west - shooting buffalo on the line of the kansas-pacific railroad", ernest griset, 1871 source: first appeared in frank leslie's illustrated newspaper which major theme in american art is ernest griset illustrating?

The tone of the excerpt can be best described as:

d- sympathetic

John Steinbeck's narration, with his characters going through hardship, with their hunger and their needs, is a true display of sympathy. The figurative way the author tells the story (as in "their hunger was in their eyes") shows a lot of compassion for the characters. Had the author been indifferent, he would simply have stated that the characters needed to eat, that is, he would have used a rawer approach.