The Hoosier Schoolmaster · Chapter
Endnotes explained
The endnotes provide scholarly commentary on dialectal terms, historical customs, and the author's sources, offering insights into the linguistic and cultural context of the novel.
What happens
The endnotes provide scholarly commentary on dialectal terms, historical customs, and the author's sources, offering insights into the linguistic and cultural context of the novel.
Themes in this chapter
Dialect and Cultural Identity
The endnotes extensively analyze dialectal variations and their origins, highlighting the cultural identity embedded in language.
Morality and Justice
The endnotes describe the 'crate' punishment for drunkards as a form of rude justice, and comment on the moral character of certain preachers.
Characters to notice
- Miss Martha Hawkins
Mentioned as a character drawn from a real person, with a speech pattern noted as a literal transcript from a Massachusetts-born woman.
- Ole Mowley
Noted as a character drawn from life, along with 'Phil' and 'General Jackson'.
Key passages
“So a Hoosier or a Kentuckian never pared an apple, but peeled it.”
A Hoosier or Kentuckian would say 'peeled' rather than 'pared' an apple.
Illustrates regional dialect differences.
“Some time after this book appeared Dr. Brown-Séquard announced his theory of the dual brain.”
After the book was published, Dr. Brown-Séquard presented his theory about the brain having two halves.
The author notes that his earlier passage anticipated this scientific theory.
“The reader may be interested to know that 'Phil' was drawn from the life, as was old Mowley and in part 'General Jackson' also.”
The character 'Phil' was based on a real person, as were old Mowley and partly 'General Jackson'.
The author reveals that some characters were inspired by real individuals.
“Absurd as this speech seems, it is a literal transcript of words spoken in the author’s presence by a woman who, like Miss Hawkins, was born in Massachusetts.”
Although the speech seems absurd, it is a verbatim record of what a woman from Massachusetts said in the author's presence, similar to Miss Hawkins.
The author defends the authenticity of the dialect.
“It was a custom in the days of early Indiana barbarism for the youngsters of a village, on spying a sleeping drunkard, to hunt up a 'queensware crate'—one of the cages of round withes in which crockery was shipped.”
In early Indiana, young people would place a wooden crate used for shipping crockery over a sleeping drunkard as a prank.
Describes a historical custom.
“Even the Anti-means Baptists have suffered from the dire spirit of the age. They are today a very respectable body of people calling themselves 'Primitive Baptists.'”
The Anti-means Baptists have changed over time and are now known as the respectable 'Primitive Baptists.'
The author comments on the evolution of a religious group.