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Chapter 4: South Carolina
Explanation and Analysis—Language in Slavery:
The Underground Railroad puts enslavement into language but also chronicles the enslavement of language. The novel showcases dialect throughout Cora’s journey to underscore the realities of slavery and problematize efforts to standardize Black identity.
Free indirect discourse frequently weaves a distinctive style of voice within the narration. A brisk, casual “you” interrupts descriptions about Jockey’s birthday party, for instance, or the Randall plantation’s abuse. At other moments, it surfaces to mimic the tough, masculine attitudes of the world around them. A wrestling match on the Randall plantation elicits a gruff, implicit reaction: “get him, get that boy, teach him what he needs to learn.”
The novel’s most extensive exploration of language, though, takes place during Cora’s stay in South Carolina. Miss Lucy, one of the proctors in the dormitories, repeatedly corrects Cora’s pronunciation during her stay:
"Think I’m gonna spend a quiet night in the quarter, Miss Lucy,” Bessie said.
"Dormitory, Bessie. Not quarter.”
"Yes, Miss Lucy."
"Going to, not gonna."
"I am working on it."
The proctor with the “severe aspect” interrupts Cora’s speech at almost every turn, disciplining her words until they can barely function for themselves. The novel frames Ms. Lucy’s insistence on proper grammar and pronunciation as a form of institutional oppression in itself: her pedantic obsessions threaten the rich diversity of identities and languages that make up the African diaspora. Read against other references to language, Ms. Lucy takes up an eerie resemblance to the slaveowners who tries to “smother” the “multitude of tongues” during Ajarry’s time. By shoehorning language into its more straitjacketed forms, Ms. Lucy also attempts to "reform"—and thereby erase—Black identity.
Related Themes:
