The Good, the Bad and Jesus Christ - Meditation on Morals and Religion in Flannery O'Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find

Flannery O'Connor was born on March 25, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia, into a religious family. That was quite usual in the South at the time. What was unusual in O’Connor is that she was an educated woman in the area. The lack of intellectuality of people in the South and the steep, enraptured clinging on to their religion at the same time remained a constant issue in O’Connor’s works. Her writings often take place in the South, demonstrating morally corrupted characters, their ways towards their dark faith which is foreshadowed by various grotesque elements. These works evoke moral and religious questions in the reader. Her short story A Good Man is Hard to Find does not fall out of this pattern either. In her own, ironic way she makes fun of the Southerners as she is barding the grandmother with all their typical characteristics, the qualities, which she most obviously wishes to criticize. Still, the seemingly deeply religious grandmother and all her flaws appear to be dwarfed by the vicious cruelty of a serial killer calling himself the Misfit. But is that really so? Who is good and who is evil in the story? Is the grandmother a true believer of God? In my essay I am focusing on the answers for such questions.

To outline my argument, I would start with the grandmother, describing her values and faults. In the beginning of the story we are introduced to a grandmother baring the values of an average old lady. She seems to be caring about her grandchildren, trying to convince their parents to go to Tennessee on vacation instead of Florida, which they have already seen and which will not help them a bit in getting to know the world better and being “broad”. A positive thing might be that on the morning of the trip, she is the first one to sit in the car ready for the route in her “lady-like” dressing. Her precision also shows when she is actually putting down the current stance of the mileage of the car so that she can later fill in the family about the length of the road taken. An undoubtedly good quality of the grandmother might appear to be her effort to call the attention of the children on the importance of good manners:

In my time […] children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else. People did right then. (2)

Near the end of the story, the grandmother creates the impression of a true believer by revealing such words and attributes as she is trying to convince the Misfit about his own goodness being dominant and that he should turn to Jesus:

"If you would pray," the old lady said, "Jesus would help you." (10)

Now these are mainly all the parameters of the grandmother which can be mentioned as good. If we analyze her personality in a deeper sense, we will find that even these serve only a kind of a superficial “goodness”. Her true color is developing all through the story and gets shown quite clearly in the end: the grandmother is definitely not as spotless as she firs might appear. The above named virtues get undermined right after we understand the purpose of them. The grandmother is apparently caring only because she wants her own ways to prevail. While she is aware of the fact that her mere thoughts are ignored, she has to reach for other ways to gain control. This way she manipulates her surroundings in the wisest ways, trying to raise a sense of guilt and responsibility in the parents or winning the sympathy of the children, whose words certainly cannot get ignored by the parents:

"Here this fellow that calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it. I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn't answer to my conscience if I did." (1)

"There was a secret:-panel in this house," she said craftily, not telling the truth but wishing that she were, "and the story went that all the family silver was hidden in it when Sherman came through but it was never found . . ." (5)

The Grandmothers “lady-like” dressing and manners also serve a special purpose: a “spit-and-polish” way of appearance, suggesting us that for her the shell is more important, than the actual content:

Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet. In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady. (2)

When it comes to manners, the old lady gives an impression of the most well behaved person, who could most probably serve as a role-model for the grandchildren, teaching them what is polite for one to say and what is not and right at the meantime she spoils this false image with her own childish remark added to the wise speech and addressing a little black child with a derogative expression:

[…] People did right then. Oh look at the cute little pickaninny!" she said and pointed to a Negro child standing in the door of a shack. (2)

The religious confidence of the grandmother leaves much room for improvement, for it does not look as if she was a genuine believer of anything, or anyone. Religion for her is also just another equipment to coat herself into a more appealing robe, another wicked way of her hypocrisy. A real religious person would willingly accept his or her fate, not being afraid to leave this world, while the grandmother desperately tries to convince the Misfit that her life should be spared, she even goes on bagging the merciless killer:

"Jesus!" the old lady cried. "You've got good blood! I know you wouldn't shoot a lady! I know you come from nice people! Pray! Jesus, you ought not to shoot a lady. I'll give you all the money I've got!" (11)

Still, the biggest sin of the grandmother is her enormous selfishness, that leads up to all the tragedy right from the beginning, the same selfishness that makes her bag for her own life and not her family’s. There are times when she could still save the family from the devastation they are driving at, but her selfishness is the one force pushing them further into their misery. Even after the car has flipped and the mother has one shoulder broken from defending the baby, she can only think of herself, similar to the situation, when she first recognizes the Misfit for the whole family’s doom and her first reaction is thinking of her own life:

"You wouldn't shoot a lady, would you?" the grandmother said and removed a clean handkerchief from her cuff and began to slap at her eyes with it. (8)

The Misfit does not show up until the half of the story, but we can already count on his appearance, as the newspaper article and several conversations foreshadow his inevitable coming. We are given the feeling that something is just wrong with the figure right as we meet him. He is suspicious with his slow, measured moving, the way he gets nervous from children, not to mention that he does not have any shirt on. It is debatable how it would have made any difference if the grandmother would not have recognized the Misfit in him. There are several hints suggesting that in the end things might have turned out in a nicer way, such examples are the lines where the Misfit insists that it would have been better for all of them, had the grandmother not done so and when he replies to the grandmother’s question if she would shoot a lady "I would hate to have to" (8). This might make us think that the Misfit is not a wholly evil person. Shortly after that however the parents and children get dragged into the woods and there shot by his word. When the grandmother tries to look for the good in him, he deliberately adds himself: "Nome, I ain't a good man" (9). He talks in a relaxed way, probably in a low voice and most honestly about his life and conceptions. These lines rather sound like some excuse, an explanation for his evil acts.

I never was a bad boy that I remember of," The Misfit said in an almost dreamy voice, "but somewheres along the line I done something wrong and got sent to the penitentiary. I was buried alive […] (10)

Such wonderings of his shape a wicked, sick mind and pattern of thoughts in the reader, alluding that whatever he does, he does it on a motif out of himself, as if he would not take the blame for such deeds. When the grandmother tries to come up with religious sentiments and see if the Misfit prays, it suddenly gets clear that he had already considered such questions and probably thought about Jesus much more than she ever did. Only his conclusion differs vastly. For the Misfit the fundaments of the belief and the uncertainty is unacceptable. He creates in his mind from these a more or less a nihilistic world view, for which he even argues:

"Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead," The Misfit continued, "and He shouldn't have done it. He shown everything off balance. If He did what He said, then it's nothing for you to do but thow away everything and follow Him, and if He didn't, then it's nothing for you to do but enjoy the few minutes you got left the best way you can by killing somebody or burning down his house or doing some other meanness to him. No pleasure but meanness," he said and his voice had become almost a snarl. (11)

The instability of his theory and of his twisted mind shows as he gets into his enthusiast speech so much that he even seems to get lost in it for a slight fragment of a moment. In this very moment, the Misfit is seen as what I would suggest is his real identity: a scared, mislead, lost and vulnerable man in need of serious help. In the same moment the grandmother recognizes his vulnerability as well and sees the slightest chance to gain control over the outrageous Misfit by manipulation. Unfortunately for her, the Misfit realizes the same thing.

Listen lady," he said in a high voice, "if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn't be like I am now." His voice seemed about to crack and the grandmother's head cleared for an instant. She saw the man's face twisted close to her own as if he were going to cry and she murmured, "Why you're one of my babies. You're one of my own children !" She reached out and touched him on the shoulder. The Misfit sprang back as if a snake had bitten him and shot her three times through the chest. (12)

He immediately falls back into his Misfit-role as his two fellows arrive back at the scene.

To conclude what has been said I would say Flannery O’Connor suggests that from the two antitypes not one model is better than the other, meaning that it can be just as wrong to be a shallow fake of a good man as being a completely lost, degenerated soul. The grandmother’s character cannot achieve the “good” label, as she is untrue on the inside, not a devoted prayer, just acting out a noble role which she knows would be right. To quote the Misfit: "She would of been a good woman, […] if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." (12) – translated in my views that as soon as her life is threatened, the grandmother notably gives her true self. As it appears the Misfit knows just as good what the road of the righteous would be, he simply refuses to follow it, he is just straightforwardly evil. If he had the chance, maybe he would have done the good thing, but right know he sticks to the “Misfit” which at least brings that he carries out no false acts other than what he is. Little does this prettify the fact of being a killer.









Works Cited
O’Connor, Flannery. “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” Web.
Major Themes In "A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, echeat.com 2005. Web.
A Good Man is Hard to Find Theme of Religion, shmoop.com Web.
A Good Man is Hard to Find Theme of Good vs. Evil, shmoop.com Web.
Flannery O'Connor, Wikipedia.org Web.

Social Criticism in Henry David Thoreau’s Walden

Henry David Thoreau’s Walden can be understood and analyzed in many different perspectives. The artistic masterpiece may be read as an autobiography, for Thoreau tells about the two years he spent in a cabin in the woods, next to Walden Pond, or as inspirational literature, showing a model in his own age of a “pure”, simple life, or because of the detailed description of his surroundings in the wilderness, it can also be read as a nature book. All the interpretations are correct, but they all inevitably merge with an additional aspect and that is social criticism. In his book, Thoreau strictly judges the technical and spiritual production of his age, questioning the development, the views and ideologies of the time. In my essay I am focusing on the contrast between technological progress, materialism, and the spiritual freedom that Thoreau suggests in the chapter Where I Lived and What I Lived for.

Thoreau is often seen as an “anti-technology person” in a material world, while in truth, he was a man of science, a pencil manufacturer, who was in quite close relation with technology and measurements. Still, he was always skeptical towards the advance of technology, claiming that it might not be of that great value for the inner development, the advance of one’s spirit. This suggests that the direct proximity of the new technology should not be the prerequisite of one’s spiritual development:

I discovered many a site for a house not likely to be soon improved, which some might have thought too far from the village, but to my eyes the village was too far from it, (388).

With these lines, Thoreau explicitly points out, that the distance of the village - as the “home for technology” – is definitely a good attribute of the given site for him, this site being rather the centre, as his own Olympus.

Later in the same chapter, Thoreau contemplates about how the products and the interests of the age are attracting the attention of people from the practical, “simple” way of life, towards the sensation and the ever growing gossip chattering news media.

And I am sure that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper. If we read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel wrecked, or one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, (…) -- we never need read of another, (398).

In his ironic way if putting it, Thoreau even implies that the railway is not much of a help for society, maybe even in contrast, causing deaths just with its rushing and dashing. This running is also characteristic to people, yet one should have much more time to discover her inner values instead. Thoreau goes even further here to emphasize his thoughts when he writes:

(…) and as for England, almost the last significant scrap of news from that quarter was the revolution of 1649, (398).

Another theory which Thoreau seems to disagree with is the theory of materialism. This can also be seen as being quite fused with the technological progress sometimes, for Thoreau time and again calls the attention on the fact that the spiritual development, the person itself gets more and more into the background against the material world. The materialist way - stating that the only thing existing is matter – specifically collides with Thoreau’s transcendental views. For him, the materialist values, the physical possessions of extravagance loose importance, as he stands for a simplified, a kind of minimalist way of life.

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! (396).

Right in the beginning of the chapter, we can see that Thoreau does not buy an expensive estate for himself, but instead he builds his own shack in the woods, with his own bare hands, barding it this way a much larger value.

This frame, so slightly clad, was a sort of crystallization around me, and reacted on the builder, (391).

Nevertheless, he tells about a poet he got to know, who decided to write and live withdrawn at a farm and the farmer made fun of him, because the poet was totally fascinated with the few wild apples he had and his poetry. In Thoreau’s opinion, the poet was richer than the farmer could have ever imagined, lacking the material resources, but piling up the lovely lines.

Why, the owner does not know it for many years when a poet has put his farm in rhyme, the most admirable kind of invisible fence, has fairly impounded it, milked it, skimmed it, and got all the cream, and left the farmer only the skimmed milk, (398).

This way, we get to the most important theme of Walden, the value that Thoreau suggest against all that was mentioned before, the importance of spiritual freedom. He puts the significance of spiritual freedom above all, advising that we all “as long as possible” should “live free and uncommitted.”

Thoreau’s main motive in moving to the woods lies in the dream of an existence, free from obligations, free from social boundaries, and the constant pressure that entail with that all. He is proud of his achievement, his escape from society and his new, self-reliant life.

The real attractions of the Hollowell farm, to me, were; its complete retirement, being about two miles from the village, half a mile from the nearest neighbor, and separated from the highway by a broad field (…), (389).

In his self-built cabin he can easily acquire his spiritual freedom that he wished for so much. Not depending on anyone but himself, he even claims that he is free from time now as well as from matter, that “Time is but the stream” he goes “a-fishing in“ (401). He is now “above” time, choosing if he wants to participate in its flow, or not.

Even the mere fact that he first moves into his cabin on Independence Day an implication, verifying his independence from all kinds of former obligations. On this very day he begins to examine his life, to review it and to attempt to get closer to nature, as that is, in his views, the way one can get closer to an inner balance that is to be obtained. On his way towards simplifying his needs, Thoreau refuses to be a slave of time and civilized society. Following nobody else’s model now, he seeks the wisdom and tranquility of the wilderness. And he finds it. He reaches spiritual freedom through the surrounding nature, becoming almost one with it, but certainly becoming “neighbors”.

(…) I found myself suddenly neighbor to the birds; not by having imprisoned one, but having caged myself near them, (391).

To sum up my thoughts, Thoreau is making an attempt to awaken us. Walden is basically a warning message to the people. A message to see the world changing around us, a message to remind us what is important. Society at certain points blindfolds our perspective, misguides one’s senses, having us believe that the only things that are truly of value are material, losing sight of the real values. This confusion can be avoided with simplification and a constant “examination” of one’s life. It is a sign for us all, to show that we must not get lost in the thrill of a massive technological advance, that we should all remember our main goal, our original function, to live free as a human being as we are.



Works Cited:


Thoreau, Henry David. Walden, New York: Literary Classics of the US, 1985.

Bogen, Joshua. Walden: A Serch for Truth in Nature, 2003. Web.

Bingham, Shawn Chandler. Thoreau and the sociological imagination, Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.

SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on Walden. SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2003. Web.

Olaudah Equiano and the Self-Made Man - From Slavery to Conversion

In his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Equiano tells his own life-story right from his kidnapping still as a child, all through his numerous struggles and sufferings as a slave, until his liberation from slavery and his conversion. The whole narration of the “self-made” protagonist can be viewed as a journey. A journey physically from Africa to the Americas, but maybe even more importantly, a moral journey of the formal illiterate slave towards the spiritually developed, converted free man. Through his way, Equiano encounters a great number of hardships, dangerous situations and seemingly helpless psychic challenges, the question of affiliation and identity in a new environment, where always he, himself is the one, who has to come up with a solution for his own sake. In my essay, I am focusing on these situations and Equianos road of becoming a “self-made man” .

In the beginning, the young Equiano, being kidnapped by slave traders is desperately sad, feeling himself hopeless and gone in the world, especially after his separation from his sister, who has also been kidnapped. Soon he is sold at a house, where he is kept as a slave. After the unfortunate outcome of an accident with one of the poultry he was ordered to take care of, the young Equiano tells the honest truth about what happened, getting himself this way into trouble. He already shows a kind of character development here, as he would not lie just to avoid the flogging:

The old slave, having soon after missed the chicken, inquired after it; and on my relating the accident (for I told her the truth, because my mother would never suffer me to tell a lie) she flew into a violent passion, threatened that I should suffer for it; and, my master being out, she immediately went and told her mistress what I had done, (Ch. 2).

As he is carried along to the shores to be shipped away, he comes across many languages, which he - for his own sake - learns quickly, instead of just simply drowning into his worsening state and ignoring his surroundings in his sorrow:

The languages of different nations did not totally differ, nor were they so copious as those of the Europeans, particularly the English. They were therefore easily learned; and, while I was journeying thus through Africa, I acquired two or three different tongues, (Ch. 2).

When on the deck of the slave ship, though he gets sometimes very sad, Equiano still shows the sign of his desire to learn, to assimilate as good as possible with the given situation. He constantly studies his new surroundings. Astonished by the technology which he has never seen before, the sight of white men and the sea itself, he cannot help asking questions:

I asked them if these people had no country, but lived in this hollow place (the ship)… 'Then,' said I, 'how comes it in all our country we never heard of them?'... I asked how the vessel could go?... (Ch. 2)

The next significant episode in Equiano’s advance is the time spent with Captain Thomas Farmer on the deck of a passenger carrying vessel. The captain works for Equiano’s master and is getting to like Equiano more and more all the time over his regular drunkard sailors. One day, the captain asks the master for him on the deck and Equiano may go. As he proves himself to be more useful on the deck than any other sailor would, in return he gets ever more privileges. Even the captain confirms his benefits:

I also became so useful to the captain on shipboard, that many times, when he used to ask for me to go with him (…), my master would answer he could not spare me, at which the captain would swear, and would not go the trip; and tell my master I was better to him on board than any three white men he had (…) (Ch. 6).

He soon gets so good at what he is doing – and the captain goes so far in quarreling - that the master gives permission for him to mainly work aboard as a sailor. This is a grand opportunity for Equiano, the slightest chance of him getting some profit and buying his freedom, or at least getting some more and better food, makes him feel overjoyed. It happens through this period of time that Equiano begins to make money from merchandising. Because they visited several foreign lands, he began to buy a very small amount of goods there and tried to sell the items back at Montserrat. It happens to be successful, and Equiano, though bit by bit, is beginning to make his own “fortune”:

I sold the gin for eight bits, and the tumblers for two, so that my capital now amounted in all to a dollar, well husbanded and acquired in the space of a month or six weeks, when I blessed the Lord that I was so rich, (Ch. 6).

For four years he is earning his profit this way. During that time, he also shows signs of brother-like solidarity, which refers to a noble personality, often observed among religious people. It happens on one occasion of such a journey, that his and a fellow slaves fruits that they wanted to sell at the market are taken away by the local white people and only his part gets to be given back. The poor fellow’s bitter loss touches him so much that he selflessly gives a part of his own to him. Beside this act of his, he also buys a Bible at the time.
Religious thoughts are starting to form in Equiano’s mind as he increasingly feels the urge of his freedom. He now connects his freedom in some way with his fate and he believes that the so desired liberation must be predetermined somehow:

I thought whatever fate had determined must ever come to pass; and therefore, if ever it were my lot to be freed nothing could prevent me, although I should at present see no means or hope to obtain my freedom; on the other hand, if it were my fate not to be freed I never should be so, and all my endeavours for that purpose would be fruitless, (Ch. 6).

Still, some awkward happenings around him made him worry, because even such black people, who had a certificate of themselves being born free, were taken away as slaves, their papers not meaning a thing. Equiano than figures that though one may be free, he can never really live secure, or at least not in the West Indies, so what he decides, that once he has the opportunity, he will travel to England. As for that he needs to learn the craft of navigation.
For Equiano to reach his goal and live as a free man, he must do a lot of sacrificing of his own desires. Yet all the spearing seems to benefit well. Because he continues on to obey his master’s and the captain’s orders, being earnest and loyal, refusing to leave them even in situations when he could most likely get to Europe, the captain proves his innocence when he is accused with the attempt of escaping. After this, the relationship between him and the captain changes radically, becoming more like a friendship, rather than a master-and-slave relation. As a matter of fact, the captain himself is already talking about the times when Equiano should be free and advises him, helps him in all the way.

In the 10th chapter, we can see Equiano returning to London from a voyage to the North Pole. As he reconsiders all the dangers and threats that he had encountered and luckily escaped, he starts to look for his inner self, starts to seek God and his own conversion.

I rejoiced greatly; and heartily thanked the Lord for directing me to London, where I was determined to work out my own salvation, and in so doing procure a title to heaven, being the result of a mind blended by ignorance and sin, (Ch. 10).

In this attempt of trying to become a Christian, Equiano is much like Everyman: seeking, being rejected frequently, getting all confused and lost between mixed up feelings, about what is wrong or right, desperately searching for the guiding light of the Lord and the fellows who would accompany him (a religious sect).

During this disagreeable business I was under strong convictions of sin, and thought that my state was worse than any man's; my mind was unaccountably disturbed; I often wished for death, though at the same time convinced I was altogether unprepared for that awful summons. Suffering much by villains in the late cause, and being much concerned about the state of my soul, these things (but particularly the latter) brought me very low; so that I became a burden to myself, and viewed all things around me as emptiness and vanity, which could give no satisfaction to a troubled conscience, (Ch. 10).

Feeling himself still in nature's darkness, Equiano starts a conversation with an old Christian and a clergyman. He soon feels sympathy towards these people and appreciates them very much. He even gets invited to a love-feast. At this feast, he finally feels that he has found what he is looking for:

This filled me with utter consternation, intermingled with admiration. I was so amazed as not to know what to think of the company; my heart was attracted and my affections were enlarged. I wished to be as happy as them, and was persuaded in my mind that they were different from the world 'that lieth in wickedness,' 1 John v. 19. Their language and singing, &c. did well harmonize; I was entirely overcome, and wished to live and die thus.

In the end, Equiano finds his inner peace and feels now ready for his salvation. Equiano’s character is definitely developing, and as a free man now, a man that he “made”, he can now wait calmly wait for Jesus Christ, knowing that his soul will be saved.


Citations:

Egan, Jim. Olaudah Equiano: The Problem of Identity, Brown University. Web.

Lovejoy, Paul E. Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-Made Man, Journal of Southern History, 2007. Web.

Response Paper on The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthys novel The Road, while telling the tale of the endless effort for survival of a father and a son in a post-apocalyptic world, mainly focuses on the human relationships, the incredible strength of the love that we can feel for each other.
The globe is perished. The wasteland offers no goods anymore. If one wants to live through, he has to search for the necessities, or even has to take them from the others who have it. But why would he? Why would he fight, why not just give up? Seemingly there is no outlook, why all the trouble in vain then, what could be the motivation? Even in a world of sorrow, in a landscape that is cruel to men and everything else living, in a situation where there is no place left for hope, a flickering light burns in the darkness, a light that will keep burning, as long as forever or beyond, the light that is called love, giving an only base for further struggle, a purpose when there would be none left, the fear for each other that keeps one moving, living and fighting, come on! Push it just some more, We’re almost there, take the gun, it will protect you if I can’t! Eat it all, I won’t need more! We have to go South, to the unknown, maybe nothing is better there, who may know, but for each other, it is worth it.
This clinging on to each other – McCarthy suggests – is what forces one to carry on in such desperate conditions, if not for one’s own sake, then for the sake of the beloved one. The point he makes here, cannot be argued, and hopefully, will never have to be.

Response Paper on White Noise by Don Delillo

“…These things happen to poor people who live in exposed areas. Society is set up in such a way that it’s the poor and undereducated who suffer the main impact of natural and man-made disasters. People in low-lying areas get the floods, people in shanties get the hurricanes and tornadoes. I’m a college professor. Did you ever see a college professor rowing a boat down his own street in one of those TV floods? We live in a neat and pleasant town near a college with a quaint name. These things don’t happen in places like Blacksmith.”

The above quotation from the beginning of chapter 21 tells about how (wealthy) people tend to think about disasters when it comes to them. At this point in the novel it is quite certain that a toxic event has occurred and that people should be prepared for whatever safety steps need to be made. Babette is even trying to convince Jack about this fact, but as his “speech” reflects, he simply couldn’t realize that it could happen to his family. Because of his status he feels untouchable in a way, sealed up from all the trouble that may come. Once again he relies on “the box”. As he’s saying “TV floods”, it gives the feeling that those floods never even happened in real life, just on the screen, so how could it possibly get them? And if there was no such occasion to be seen on TV when not the poor got hurt, it cannot happen! Especially not to them. Not right here. Not in Blacksmith, as if the neat little town, or the quaint name of the college, or simply his wisdom could save them in any way from catastrophes. Instead of making the urgent preparations for a possible evacuation, Jack locks up on the thoughts of being safe, out of reach from the harm just as long as they don’t receive the concrete call for the evac.

Dialects of American English

Slangs
(Handout)

Study of Slang

- brings a group of people together

- groups use their slang as their own "secret" language

- to show unification of group recognition

- slang makes language unique

- slang helps to develop socially

- a way of communication for teens

- broad vocabulary to express ideas


Slang Influences

- music and television shows

- songs & TV shows constantly coming out → slang continuously changing


CA Slang


Northern California Slang

- the word "hella" (really or very)

- "hecka" as an alternative to "hella"

- also influenced by the Spanish language → mainly used by the "gangsters"

- shortened Spanish words (for drugs, sex, and violence)


The Bay Hip-Hop Culture Slang

- hyphy (crazy), hella, thizz (some state of being on drugs), bopper (girl only caring about status), ripper (an “anybody’s female”), scraper (an oldsmobile), perkin'(very drunk)

- originated from local music scene → "E-40" and "Keak da Sneak" etc.


Southern California Slang

- “surfer slang”

- "freaken" (incredibly)

- more words for the size of a wave, cool tricks, etc.

- "gnarly" (beyond extreme), "dude", "grinders" (container grinding marijuana)

- "Surf talk"


Canadian/US Slang Words and Phrases


bender - a heavy drinking session, usually lasting more than one day

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt! - refers to an experience you have already lived through

bitchin' - cool

brekkie - breakfast

crash - to fall asleep at someone else's house

da bomb - an ultimate experience

douche bag - very negative description of a person

idiot box - the television

In a New York minute - very fast

Joe Blow - an ordinary, average person

lose your cookies - to vomit, or throw up

lush - an alcoholic

party pooper - a person who leaves a party early

rollies - hand rolled cigarettes

The Man - the law


Texas Slang Words and Phrases


ugly as a mud fence - very unattractive person

long time no see! - greeting

cold enough for ya? - asked when it's bitterly cold

mad as a wet hen - very angry, usually said of a woman

cute as a bug - said of a very adorable, small child

I wouldn't have no more use for that than a hog would a side-saddle!- notes that something is useless


Fun Stuff


Translating Southern United States Slang to English (not real)


HIRE YEW - complete sentence. Remainder of greeting.

Usage: "Heidi, hire yew?"

BARD - verb. Past tense of the infinitive "to borrow."

Usage: "My brother bard my pickup truck."

MUNTS - noun. A calendar division.

Usage: "My brother from Jawjuh bard my pickup truck, and I aint herd from him in munts."

TAR - noun. A rubber wheel.

Usage: "Gee, I hope that brother of mine from Jawjuh doesn't git a flat tar in my pickup truck."

THANK - verb. Ability to cognitively process.

Usage: "Ah thank ah'll have a bare."

BARE - noun. An alcoholic beverage made of barley, hops an yeast.

RATS - noun. Entitled power or privilege.

Usage: "We Southerners are willing to fat for out rats."

PURDY - adjective. Beautiful.

Usage: "She is purdy as a pitcher."

FARN - adjective. Not local.

Usage: "I cudnt unnerstand a wurd he sed... must be from some farn country."

YURP - noun. A continent overseas.

Usage: "I herd haze from Yurp"

VIEW - contraction: verb and pronoun.

Usage: "I ain't never seed New York City ... view?"

HEAVY DEW - phrase. A request for action.

Usage: "Kin I heavy dew me a favor?"

BAHS - noun. A supervisor.

Usage: "If you don't stop reading these Southern words and git back to work, your bahs is gonna far you!"


The New York Black Street Slang Exam


- answers at the end of this page -


1. How do you say "Excuse Me" or "Pardon Me" or "Sorry!"?

2. If someone says "Ayyyy-Yooo!" to you on the street, what is your reply?

3. "I'm a snuff you" means...

1. I'm gonna punch you.
2. I'm gonna kill you.
3. I'm gonna leave you.
4. All of the above.

4. "She got a gas face" means...

1. She has light skin.
2. She's very happy.
3. She's giving you a dirty look.
4. None of the above.

5. "It's the ball!" means what?

6. "Nine pound" means what?

7. What is a "Hoop-Dee"?

8. Name the following places in New York:

1. Up North
2. Strong Island
3. Boogie Down
4. The Hill
5. Sha-Lin

9. Does "Buttafuco" mean:

1. Faggy.
2. Cool.
3. Both.
4. Neither.


Answers: New York Black Street Slang Exam


1. "My bad."

2. "Aw-ite" (derivative of "alright!")

3. A. "I'm gonna punch you."

4. C. "She's giving you a dirty look."

5. "It is good!"

6. The year 1995.

7. A broken down car that rides low to the ground driven mainly by Dominicans.

8. A. The New York State Penitentiary

B. Long Island

C. The Bronx

D. Staten Island

E. Brooklyn.

9. C. Both. "Buttafuco" in the Penitentiary means "Faggy", but on the street it means "Cool".



Control Questions

1. What are the main characteristics of a slang? What may be it’s most frequent sources?

2. How many types of the CA slang do we distinguish? List some of their features!

3. Could you mention some Canadian/US slang words or phrases?

4. How about the Texas slang?



Sources:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_slang


http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/5949/Help/canus1.html


http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081119085457AAd8WW7


http://baetzler.de/humor/southern_translation.html


http://goinside.com/97/10/slang.html

Response Paper on The Things They Carried by Tim O’ Brien

The Burdens

The characters of the book mainly bore two kinds of weights: physical and emotional burden. Right in the first chapter, Tim O’ Brien sets up his storytelling by writing long lists of the things the soldiers were carrying in the Vietnam war. Beyond the basic gears of war, he goes on mentioning the personal luggage, that varied from person to person, mostly depending on their necessity, helping the reader to get to know the protagonists in a deeper sense this way, to know their souls, their customs, the way they would probably live their “normal” lives. A letter, a photograph, a bible, the drugs, condoms, comic books, a pair of moccasins, all life-story-telling property.

In addition to the physical burdens, O’ Brien tells about the emotional pressure one had to wear on the shoulders during the war, which was believably the greatest mass: "They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing--these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice.... Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to." We can see their fears, their happiness through these things, the way they couldn’t just get over the tragedies and terrors of war, their beliefs, their last refuges to grip on to in a hopeless situation, the things that pull them apart, the things that bound them together as a team. A team in a desperate situation, still, struggling to find their roots to remain what they were before the hell on earth started: human beings.