comment on language / meaning

Elbow Room consists of twelve diverse stories generally told in standard American English. Specific words and phrases drawn from Southern dialect are sprinkled irregularly throughout. "The Story of a Scar," being told by the female victim of a slashing to what she believes is a "typical" male, is told vividly forcefully in the victim's natural dialect, as is the eye-witness testimony in "Problems of Art," where the defendant warns her neighbor to speak correctly, lest white officials ignore what he has to say. "I Am an American," set in England, involves communicating with British natives and visiting Japanese tourists. The bulk of "A Sense of Story" is a court transcript in proper legalese, incorporating testimony from black and white Southern witnesses telling their stories naturally.