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Allusions
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Diner Conversation :
Throughout The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck employs a number of different dialects that reflect the speech patterns and vocabulary of individuals from different parts of the American Southwest and California. A snippet of conversation between a truck driver and a waitress in Oklahoma reflects Steinbeck’s use of dialect in the novel:
Inside, one man, the truck driver, sat on a stool and rested his elbows on the counter and looked over his coffee at the lean and lonely waitress. He talked the smart listless language of the roadsides to her. “I seen him about three months ago. He had a operation. Cut somepin out. I forget what.’’ And she—“Doesn’t seem no longer ago than a week I seen him myself. Looked fine then. He’s a nice sort of a guy when he ain’t stinko."
The truck driver repeatedly stops at the same diners as he makes his journey across the region, chatting with the waitresses whom he meets along the way. His manner of speech identifies him as a local to the area, especially his use of “somepin” (or “something,”) a form of pronunciation that marks many characters from Oklahoma in the novel, including members of the Joad family. The waitress, also from Oklahoma, responds in a similar dialect, using the informal slang term “stinko,” which means “drunk.” Their speech reflects their background and the informal and unpretentious manner of many characters from Oklahoma as presented by Steinbeck in the novel.
