The Red Badge of Courage: Chapters 4-8

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

• Did you guess what the words above meant?

Yeh means you, knet means knit, allus means always, and sech means such. These words are all used in the dialogue of The Red Badge of Courage.

• Why are these words spelled so differently from their meaning?

In the novel's dialogue, Stephen Crane uses a literary technique called dialect. Dialect is a form of writing that captures the language specific to a particular region.

As you read What is Dialect? Definition, Examples of English Dialects to learn more about dialect and its use in literature, answer the following questions in your notebook or journal.

• What type of words change most often in different dialects?
• How is dialect different from accent?
• What are two prominent American dialects according to the reading?
• Why do authors use dialect in their writing?

Check your thinking against the answers below.

After checking your answers, watch the following video on a study done on dialects in America. For each question the researchers ask, pause the video to write down the word or term you would use for the described item.

• Based on the responses you wrote down and the responses in the video, do you speak in a regional dialect?
• If so, from what region is your dialect?

Now that you've explored contemporary American dialects, it's time to go back to the nineteenth century and delve into the dialect of The Red Badge of Courage.

Read Chapters Four through Eight in The Red Badge of Courage either online or a hard copy if you have access to one.

As you read, write down at least eight examples of the dialect used by the characters.

• Why do you think the character's dialect sounds different from the way people speak today?

For an extra challenge, try to read the dialogue portions of these chapters aloud to see if you can hear the dialect the characters use.

When you've finished your reading, move to the Got It? section to delve more deeply into dialogue.