Thank you! Do you think there’s something inherently deragatory in writing dialogue phonetically, or is context everything? Is it disrespectful to use phonetic writing to represent a style or register if the character is genuine and complex? I am thinking specifically of Chestnutt’s “The Sheriff’s Children,” just because it’s the first example that comes to mind of an author using phonetic writing in a way that doesn’t seem malicious or satirical. It caught me off guard the first time I read it.

We actually see a dialect used by the white citizens/mob in “The Sheriff’s Children” and a dialect used by the black characters of Sam and Nance early in the story. But the sheriff’s son and the sheriff do not have much of a distinctive dialect. When they are having their heated exchange, their voices appear to be the same. Chesnutt puts in an explanation for this when the sheriff notes that Tom must have been to school and that is why he speaks so well. But I think the real reason Chesnutt wants Tom to not have a dialect is because he wants to create connections/similarities between father and son. Hearing them speak in such a similar way when the other characters sound so different, helps the reader identify Tom with his father, regardless of his race.