Is the tone of The Red Pony misleading, straightforward or neutral when telling the story?

The tone of the story is simple and
straightforward, but there are signs of
foreboding.

Tone is the author’s attitude
toward the subject.  Although you could consider the tone misleading in that in the
beginning you might think it is a nice story about a boy and a horse, there is plenty of
foreshadowing to indicate otherwise.

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Over the hillside two big black buzzards sailed
low to the ground and their shadows slipped smoothly and quickly ahead of them. Some
animal had died in the vicinity. Jody knew it. (ch 1, p.
5)

Jody is unsettled by the
buzzards.  He hates them, and calls them indecent.  Therefore we have a clear indication
from Steinbeck that there will be death in the
story. 

Steinbeck also goes out of his way to tell the
story in a simple, straightforward way.  Life on the ranch is not romanticized.  It’s a
hard life.  Although Jody enjoys the pony, even its presentation to him is frill-less
and ominous.  Jody was ordered out to the barn, and “felt a kind of doom in the air” (ch
1, p. 8).  That’s hardly the carefree story of a boy and his
pony.