IDENTIFYING LITERARY CHARACTERS AND SPEAKERS Try to identify the ethnicity, gender, general age, and region of each writer/speaker. List some specific features that clued you in to these assumptions: accent, vocabulary, pitch, spelling, grammar, etc.

Speaker #1

Speaker #2

Literary Character #1 “I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: “All right then, I’ll go to hell”— and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming.”

Speaker #3

Speaker #4

Literary Character #2 “So like, right now for example. The Haitians need to come to America. But some people are all, ‘What about the strain on our resources?’ Well it's like when I had this garden party for my father's birthday, right? I put R.S.V.P. 'cause it was a sit-down dinner. But some people came that like did not R.S.V.P. I was like totally buggin'. But by the end of the day it was, like, the more the merrier. And so if the government could just get to the kitchen, rearrange some things, we could certainly party with the Haitians. And in conclusion may I please remind you it does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty. Thank you very much.”

Speaker #1 - Answer  White  Female  37 (middle aged)  Northeast (Boston, MA)

Speaker #2 - Answer  African American  Male  20 (young adult)  South (Alabama)

Literary Character #1 - Answer  White  Male  11 or 12 (child)  South (Mississippi)

Speaker #3 – Answer  Hispanic  Female  70s (elderly)  Southwest (New Mexico)

Speaker #4 – Answer  White  Female  Early 20s (young adult)  Scotland

Literary Character #2 - Answer  White  Female  Teenager (young adult)  West (California)

Journal Reflection  After exploring different types of written and spoken language, where do you think you fit in as a writer and a speaker?  How do you think others would identify your speech or writing?  Who are some writers/speakers you are like or most different from? How?  Why do you think you are similar or different to them?  What is the point in studying language?