Difference between revisions of "Week 11 Questions/Comments-327 11"
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I found the way Sadlier wrote out Irish accents was really interesting. At first I thought maybe she was caricaturing the immigrants by exaggerating their accents, but then I found out that she was Irish herself. I also thought the interactions she wrote between the Irish men discussing whether or not selling alcohol was okay seemed really honest. I would have assumed initially that this was written by a white woman trying to scold Irish girls on the dangers of alcohol and men and probably not holding a very high opinion of her readers; After realizing the author had gone through experiences like this herself, I trusted the story she was telling a bit more. -- Katie C. | I found the way Sadlier wrote out Irish accents was really interesting. At first I thought maybe she was caricaturing the immigrants by exaggerating their accents, but then I found out that she was Irish herself. I also thought the interactions she wrote between the Irish men discussing whether or not selling alcohol was okay seemed really honest. I would have assumed initially that this was written by a white woman trying to scold Irish girls on the dangers of alcohol and men and probably not holding a very high opinion of her readers; After realizing the author had gone through experiences like this herself, I trusted the story she was telling a bit more. -- Katie C. | ||
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| + | I was kind of amused by the accents, as well, and particularly the use of Irish language phrases, which she spells phonetically. Granted, Irish (Gaelic) is not easy for English speakers to read, so this makes sense, but she doesn't translate them, either, which seems like it would be useless to most readers. I'm learning Irish, and the phrases are basic enough that I mostly knew what they meant, but I wonder how common that knowledge is, or whether the inclusion of foreign words is just meant to give a particular flavor to the dialogue. | ||
| + | On another subject, the beginning of the reading makes it very clear how unprepared immigrants could be for the realities of life in America. The woman who plans to find her son is a perfect example of this, as she is unaware how far apart New York and Ohio are. It makes me think that culture shock must have been particularly bad for people who were arriving with so little idea of life in the US. --Rebecca W. | ||
== Jannicke Saehle, 1847, Norwegian immigrant’s letters == | == Jannicke Saehle, 1847, Norwegian immigrant’s letters == | ||
