7. language

[Kristel]

7. The author carefully represents dialects, shifts in pronunciation and educations. The narrator calls attention to Nancy's language "There is hardly a servant-maid in these days who is not better informed that Miss Nancy". What do we learn about Eliot's audience? For whom is she writing? How would you characterize her intended or implied readers?

[Diane]

The different dialects show the reader the differences in social class amongst the characters in the book. It is meant to add realism. I think at the time the book was written, the audience tended to be the literate upper class. I think the use of dialect was meant to make the characters more human to the readers and to evoke a sense of rural society.

[John]

I agree with Diane that the audience was likely the educated classes, especially urban. So that it would convey class differences and a rural setting.