In the most recent novel we are reading in class, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the characters all speak in a distinct dialect of English that is non-standard. "I" is changed to "Ah", verbs are shortened, there are double negatives, and so on. Though for some this may be hard to read and understand, especially in a book where most of the story is delivered through dialogue, but I feel that these kinds of literary quirks can really differentiate a story. Not just in a narrative about African Americans, but in other literature with other English dialects. People can usually tell the difference between British English and American Standard English when spoken, but when written as dialogue they very rarely show any of the differences in the dialects. Given, those two are very similar but the same kind of logic can be applied to other dialects of English. Authors usually wrote their dialogue in standard, and they would use a different dialect if the character was "unintelligent" because they didn't speak standard. However, seeing authors use dialects more often prevents all the characters from sounding the same, and adds character. Personally, I'll try and use dialects in my own writing to add extra quirks for characters. Dialects can add expression to dialogue, but what do you think? Are dialects interesting literary conventions, or are they just annoying and obstruct reading.
Throughout Native Son, Bigger makes choices. Many of these choices cause him to tumble down a continuous spiral to his eventual trial and execution for the murder and supposed rape of Mary Dalton. While reading this book, I thought at many times to try to call out to Bigger, and give him a bit of guidance because I could see where some of his actions were leading. I realized that I was using education that I had received in my schooling years that Bigger was not fortunate enough to have, and that Bigger's environment hadn't prepared his foresight enough to prevent him from making several fatal mistakes in a row. So is the true culprit Naturalism? I believe that Wright was trying to achieve the same response I gave to seeing Bigger make those mistakes. I believe that his Naturalist "lab" (for lack of a better term) was designed to show how much education can play into the choices we make. And I do not mean only the education you receive in schools. If Bigger had seen
Great post! I totally agree that while writing phonetically can make it harder to read, it adds another dimension to the story and makes it so much better. Something I thought while reading Their Eyes Were Watching God was, "oh this would be cool to listen to as an audio book".
ReplyDeleteNice post! I think it's cool that the dialogue is written in the dialect. I think the extra time it takes to read is worth it because you get a real sense of the characters, and the way they sound in your mind. If the dialogue were not written in the dialect, I think it would almost be offensive. The characters are owed a correct representation of their speech. I think the fact that the author combines the dialect with really heightened, metaphorical English is interesting too - generally, you don't see the two written on the page together. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteI feel like they can be used without obstructing the reading, but it will take time for the reader, aka myself, to understand what is being said. I personally don't know if I would ever be in a place to write in another dialect, but having read this book, I wouldn't hate trying it. It kind of reminds me of all those poems Dr. E made us read in Sophomore English that I forgot the names of. It was possible, but since I was new to it it made it more difficult.
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