What is the author's style in the novel, West With Giraffes?

The language in West With Giraffes serves to relate the life experiences of a Dust Bowl orphan and country bumpkin, Woodrow Wilson Nickel. Language shifts throughout time and is a product of a person’s place and experiences. As such, language serves as a kind of fingerprint that embeds the speaker in a specific context. The author recreates the atmosphere of the 1930’s by employing vernacular of that day and age, using many slang references and colloquialisms that have gone out of style today. Words like “tramp,” “2-bit,” “pipsqueak,” “dunderheaded,” “blunderbusses,” “cocksure,” “snoot,” “bejeezus,” and "dunderheaded” contribute the historical accuracy of the narrative.

Significantly, this vernacular is only used when speaking from the perspective of ‘country folk’ and is not applied to city speakers, like Red. Red uses much more formal language choices, as do other characters like sheriffs and storeowners who are not from the rural reaches of America. This creates a language divide that mimics the socio-political chasms present in the time of the telling of the story.

The language also shifts during scenes when Woody is writing in the convalescent home. In this case, the language is recognizable as from the modern era in which the audience is reading. “I heard you were a bad boy last night. Punching the TV? My goodness” (25). The language choices in this section not only convey the modern era, but also function to replicate life inside a convalescent home. The language that the orderlies use with Woody are reminiscent of the language used by bystanders observing the giraffes on their journey. The author uses the vernacular structure of the text to relate to the reader the similarities in which old people and animals are treated, namely that both groups are viewed as possessing less intelligence than “normal people.” This juxtaposition helps to develop the author’s statements about the equality of all life, and the morally debased place from which we allow outer differences to determine inherent value.