Previous
Allusions
Section 2
Explanation and Analysis—American West Dialect:
One of the ways that Crane makes his story seem realistic is by having his characters from the American West speak in their local dialect. Take the following passage, for example, in which Crane captures the similar dialects of Scully, Johnnie, and the cowboy:
“Never mind, Mr. Scully; never mind. I will go away. I do not wish to be killed.” The Swede moved toward the door which opened upon the stairs.
[…]
“Now,” said Scully severely, “what does this mane?”
Johnnie and the cowboy cried together: “Why, we didn’t do nothin’ to ’ im!”
Scully’s eyes were cold. “No,” he said, “you didn’t?”
Johnnie swore a deep oath. “Why, this is the wildest loon I ever see. We didn’t do nothin’ at all. We were jest sittin’ here playin’ cards, and he—”
This passage opens with the Swede suggesting to Scully (the hotel owner) that Johnnie and the cowboy are threatening him, before going up to his room to pack his bags. It’s notable that the Swede’s dialogue does not feature any changes to spelling or grammar—despite being foreign, he seems to speak in a formal sort of English.
In the conversation between the three men from the American West, however, the dialogue reflects their dialect, as seen in spelling changes like “nothing” to “nothin’,” “him” to “'im,” “just” to “jest,” and more. Johnnie’s description of the Swede as “the wildest loon I ever see” contains both an example of local slang (“loon,” for crazy person) and also a common grammatical discrepancy (“I’ve ever seen” becomes “I ever see”).
It is significant that Scully does not automatically side with his son and the cowboy here, despite coming from the same community and quite literally speaking the same language. In this way, Scully comes off as one of the few characters resistant to judging the Swede negatively just for being different, both in terms of where he comes from and his strange, paranoid behavior.
Related Themes:
