Home > Sweat Summary & Study Guide > Sweat Group > Discussion Board

"Sweat," Section I, p. 357 in The Story and Its Writer.

No, absolutely not.  Hurston's way of switching between the authentic, realistic dialect of her characters to the grammatically wonderful dialect of the narrator is superb.  It makes the story that much more believable and full of true wisdom and thoughtfulness. eNotes states:

Hurston’s ability to switch between Eatonville dialect and technically grammatical English allows her to act as a sort of intermediary and interpreter, bringing southern folk wisdom to New York...she manages to pose as an ambassador of her culture’s wisdom. Nonbourgeois black readers might be more willing to accept ideas in this form than in the language of a doctoral student at Columbia, since folk wisdom seems much more tried and true than the whims of an individual, ambitious writer, especially when it is presented in authentic dialect.