What is the author's tone in Rape Fantasies by Margaret Atwood?

The tone is actually rhetorical in nature. A rhetorical question is a question used for dramatic effect, one that is not meant to be answered directly or literally. At the end of the story, Estelle queries her listener: "How could a fellow do that to a person he's just had a long conversation with, once you let them know you're human, you have a life too, I don't see how they could go ahead with It, right?" Her comment is rhetorical, that is, she does not expect an answer She has argued persuasively through her rape fantasies that if a man and woman come to understand one another, crime and pain will be averted due to their mutual sympathy. Her monologue is an attempt to practice this theory.