Alissa Winkler Southernisms CCQC#1

• What particular Southern-isms are you noticing?

Robert Penn Warren has Jack use his astute Southern-ism insults to elegantly explain how he views various characters  and places in All the King's Men. The novel's narrator Jack Burden does not hesitate to speak his mind when he describes the partners he works with, painting sometimes grotesque images of a character's appearance in the readers mind. The first time we as readers can clearly see Jack's southern insults is when he initially introduces Tiny Duffy, one of Willie's associates saying, "And it ain't any secret that Tiny Duffy is as sebaceous a fat-ass as ever made the spring groan in a swivel chair," (23). Jack's use of complex diction makes this crude simile seem less offensive even though when simplified Jack is telling us he thinks Tiny Duffy is a greasy fat-ass. Additionally, Warren's southern insults target the description of places as well as people. For example, Jack narrates every detail of sitting with the Judge in his home, down to the scent, letting the reader know it is not a place you would enjoy living in. “The gang of us sat around, and moved our thighs on the horsehair or on the split-bottom and stared down at the unpainted boards of the floor or at the design on the linoleum mat in the middle of the floor as though we were attending a funeral and owed the dead man some money. The linoleum mat was newish, and the colors were still bright -- reds and tans and blues slick and varnished-looking -- a kind of glib, impertinent, geometrical island floating there in the midst of the cornerless shadows and the acid mummy smell and the slow swell of Time which had fed into this room, day by day since long back, as into a landlocked sea where the fish were dead and the taste was brackish on your tongue," (37). Although this quote does not directly insult another character, the southern style of writing in which the room is described has the ability to reveal more about Jude Irwin than meets the eye. Both quotes allow the reader to envision the south and the political influences living their at the time through the cultured words of cynical and brutally honest Jack. It's enjoyable to read each chapter and be introduced to new characters, knowing that Jack will have something elegantly degrading to say about them, hilariously wearing his heart on his sleeve and speaking his mind. The eloquent southern art of insults adds to the style of writing and affects how we perceive the people and places of the south for better or for worse.