The tone of this excerpt means that something is connected with fear and anxiety. The frantic refers to an uncontrolled way of behaving due to fear, anxiety and worrying.
In this excerpt, the mother is frantic because of her cognition that her child is dead. Her words are directed to disbelieving that her child is no longer alive. The frantic tone is emphasized in short words, evoking and hurry to find out the truth.
