The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn · Chapter
Explanatory explained
The author provides a note on the use of various dialects in the book, explaining that they are rendered accurately based on personal familiarity, and that without this explanation readers might mistakenly think the characters are all tryin
What happens
The author provides a note on the use of various dialects in the book, explaining that they are rendered accurately based on personal familiarity, and that without this explanation readers might mistakenly think the characters are all trying to talk alike.
Key passages
“In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary “Pike County” dialect; and four modified varieties of this last.”
This book uses several different dialects, including the Missouri negro dialect, the extreme backwoods Southwestern dialect, the ordinary Pike County dialect, and four variations of that one.
The author lists the specific dialects represented in the novel.
“The shadings have not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech.”
The variations in dialect were not done carelessly or guessed at, but carefully, based on the author's own firsthand knowledge of these ways of speaking.
The author emphasizes the deliberate and informed nature of the dialect work.
“I make this explanation for the reason that without it many readers would suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not succeeding.”
I explain this because otherwise many readers might think the characters are all attempting to speak the same way but failing.
The author clarifies the purpose of the explanatory note.