Dialect in D. H. Lawrence's A Sick Collier
How much can one tell from the dialogue and dialect from a piece of literature? "A Sick Collier" by D. H. Lawrence is a short story that exemplifies how important dialect can be to the understanding of a story. This story's dialect is key to many elements of the story. Through the dialect, the reader gets a full picture of the setting, understanding of the collier's social class, and shows the difference in intelligence between the collier and the other speaking characters.
The story begins with background information setting up the scene for the story. Then suddenly it hits you. The collier says "Set th' table ofr my breakst, an' put my pitthing affront o' th' fire. I s'll be getting' up at ha'ef pas' five. Tha nedna shift thy-sen not till when ter likes" (Lawrence 2). Initially, I was overwhelmed trying to read this dialogue. But as I continued to read the story, I realized Lawrence's purpose. The author was trying to give a setting for this piece, because the story has no specific location. Lawrence does not blatantly tell exactly where the story is taking place. However, the reader can make assumption by analyzing the dialect. According to Leith, the dialect is that of the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire area in England. The collier's statements and ideas are simple minded, which is a characteristic of the rural part of the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire area (Leith 245). For example, the collier says "I want none o' your white cloths i' the' mornin'. I like ter be able to slobber if I feel like it" (Lawrence 2). He does not care that his wife thinks the white tablecloths are pretty. He only cares that she might expect him to eat like a civilized human being. The col...
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...is so dramatic.
Dialect can tell the reader a lot about a story. By looking at the writings by Leith and Thulin, one can see how important this element of writing can be. From the dialect in this story, the reader can create ideas about the setting, the collier's social class, and the character's level of intelligence.
Works Cited
Lawrence, D. H. "A Sick Collier." Jimmy and the Desperate Woman & other stories. Ed. Giles Gordon. London: Bloomsbury P, 1996. 1-11.
Leith, Richard. "Dialogue and Dialect in D. H. Lawrence." Style. Ed. Summer. DeKalb:
University of Illinois, 1980. 245-258.
Thulin, Richard L. "Man and Woman in the Writings of David Herbert Lawrence and of Certain Contemporary Theologians: A Dialogue in Theology and Literature." Dissertation-
Abstracts-International. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1972. 2487A-88A.
During the second Great Awakening women helped the churches thrive because they were the ones that kept the pews filled during sermons. Jarnea Lee was a woman who went back into the church and became a part of the congregation which sparked an interest in her wanting to be a pastor. Lee felt it was her calling to be a pastor. Even though she wanted to be a pastor she was denied the opportunity because during the early 19th century women weren’t allowed to be pastors. She didn’t let that stop her. She still preached to different people as a circuit rider. She had a wide range of audience that listen to her. With her powerful messages she became a major figure in the Holiness
Ten weeks after the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) singed an Executive Order of 9066 that authorized the removal of any people from military areas “as deemed necessary or desirable”(FDR). The west coast was home of majority of Japanese Americans was considered as military areas. More than 100,000 Japanese Americans was sent and were relocated to the internment camps that were built by the United States. Of the Japanese that were interned, 62 percent were Nisei (American born, second generation) or Sansei (third-generation Japanese) the rest of them were Issai Japanese immigrants. Americans of Japanese ancestry were far the most widely affected. The Japanese internment camps were wrong because the Japanese were accused as spies, it was racism, and it was a violation to the United States constitution laws.
Despite the similarities in the time periods of the pieces, the use of language in them is very different. In Stephen Crane's “Maggie,” the audience is given the story of a poor family whose children grow up and experience difficulties due to their social position. As already noted, the dialog is treated in the story in a much different manner than the paragraphs which are written in a more eloquent manner. An example of this is:
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. 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. 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. (Twain 2)
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Elizabeth. In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York: Crossroad, 1983.
Scholz, S. (2014). Feminist Scholarship on the Old Testament: Introduction. Available: http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393361/obo-9780195393361-0020.xml. Last accessed 19th March 2014.
During WWII, many Japanese-American citizens were imprisoned. They were imprisoned for being from the Japanese decent. There was no evidence to convict these people but they still were imprisoned. Many Japanese came to the West Coast, which caused Americans some paranoia. Americans thought that the Japanese might be terrorists in disguise. In February of 1942, President Roosevelt ordered Americans of Japanese to be sent to concentration camps which were located in various areas of the United States. There were many aspects to the imprisonment of the Japanese-Americans such as their life before coming to the camps, the executive order 9066, and what it was like being in the concentration camps.
Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, as a result of pressure, on February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which relocated more than 100,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans from their homes in the West Coast and were placed in numerous camps around the country. Leaders in California, Oregon, and Washington, believed that by moving the Japanese American citizens inland would prevent another attack and keep their West Coast homes safe. According to the article “Did the United States put its own citizens in concentration camps during WWII?” by Jane McGrath, FDR and the US government referred to these camps as “concentration camps”, that t...
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Harrington, Daniel J. (S.J.) The truth about Jesus and Women. Retrieved April 12, 2014 from
Piper, John. What’s the Difference? Manhood and Womanhood Defined According to the Bible. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1991.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford. "Anthropology: Humanity as Male and Female" in Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology. Beacon Press, 1993, pp. 93-115.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition Volume1. Ed. M.H.Abrams. New York: W.W.Norton and Company, Inc., 1993.
Le, F. G., Buehrle, M. C., & Von, H. A. (2010). The Eternal woman: The timeless meaning of the feminine. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
A year later, according to a research project, The Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life, many women have assumed parish responsibilities. “…The following percentages of ministerial activities done by women reveal: alter preparation 85 percent, teaching 80 percent, social caring and justice ministries 85 percent, parish council leadership 52 percent (Wessinger, 246).”. Church practice is - to a large extent - women's practice. Without the unpaid cooperation of women, important pastoral activities would stop. A fair number of women choose to give their time and efforts to the church, rather than take paid employment. Many times these women are over looked.