Forwarding Literary Dialect to Voice the Oppressed in Kathryn Stocett’s “The Help”

Abstract

The focus of this research is in the area of literary studies and linguistic analysis. Such a study is important in order to demonstrate the peculiar use of language in literary representation. And the way dialect interferes in literature. The research approach adopted in this dissertation includes a literary analysis and an examination of characters’ speeches in the American writer Kathryn Stokett’s “The Help”. The findings from this research provide evidence that Stokett’s use of language springs from her familiarity with the American south and peoples’ linguistic specificity. The main conclusions drawn from this study are: the use of dialect gives more room for authentic portrayal of the Black women in their real social setting. And it grants them more voice and visibility in the realm of literature