This question is based on Literary Principles. ''Virture in Russia as in his childhood, seemed something that arose from men, like a comforting body odour, ...

This question is based on Literary Principles.

''Virture in Russia as in his childhood, seemed something that arose from men, like a comforting body odour, rather than something from above that impaled the struggling soul like a moth on a pin.''

John Updike, Beech: A Book

The tone of the passage above is