Literary Annotation #4

Nettels, Elsa. "Language, Race, and Social Class in Howell's America." Modern Language Quarterly 49.1 (1988): 80-82. Web. 19 Sept. 2012.

Elsa Nettels focuses on the language and speech patterns found in Howells’ “Rise of Silas Lapham.” Throughout the novel Howell helps divide and accentuate each social class from their use of English. The upper class Corey’s are very controlled in speaking, using proper sentence structure and pronunciation. Silas’ speech in ungrammatical and rural but, even still, Silas acts with the most honor and with a stronger sense of morality than the aristocratic speaking Mr. and Mrs. Corey. Nettels outlines how with this idea Howell shows that even the most “uncultured,” by upper class standing, person despite their syntax should not be discredited, “the highest standards of speech need not predicate the highest standards of culture.”