I find it interesting that both Poe and Twain use a different dialect when they have a black character speak in their stories. It has been posed in class that this is because they were uneducated. If this is true, then why do we learn the majority of our language befor we begin pre-school? Perhaps this is the way the black man chose to speak and although they may have been uneducated, do you not think they could have spoke more like the white man if they wanted to? What do you think?

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2000

Answers

I think we learn alot of our vocabulary before we start school so we can communicate. Nobody wants a four year old that's a mute. Blacks talk different because that's the way they were taught. I do think they could like white people if they wanted to. Actors and actresses fake accents and dialects all the time.

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2000

I believe that the black characters in the different novels speak in this dialect because they brought up hearing this dialect, therefore they took it as there own. We talked about the nature vs. nurture thing in class, and I think in this case, if a negro child would have brought up in a predominantly white people, they would learn those speech patterns instead. Your environment definetly plays a big role in the way you speak, no matter if you are black or white, male or

-- Anonymous, March 27, 2000