In “The Funeral,” the narrator Henry James shows condescending and playful tone towards the people attending the funeral. But not being focus on the actual funeral and drawing his attention to the people, he grieve at all, as you usually do in a funeral. The author’s diction expresses his mischievous attitude toward the funeral. When the first arrives, he points out that the elements of “groteque” was noticeable. Furthermore, he describes the people as “shabbier English types.” He goes on by saying that the dead man was just a “shoemaker,” His thoughts towards the funeral were like if it was a “serious comedy” taken in hand by the classes who are “socially unpresented in Parliament,” which shows that he looks down on them.