The intentional combination of words and phrases used to depict a larger picture than just simple writing, is by far one of the best ways to use diction. As Mark Twain composed "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," he implicitly amplified the setting to be more that an average backdrop for the characters to interact in. By adding more depth to the surrounding, with not only a complicated plot, but with intense language and tone, casts a sense of social ambience, and can be seen in a specific passage in the novel. Twain uses colloquial and political diction to give the readers a deeper insight into Southern societal values among the people in this passage, as he reiterates the mindset of racist and arrogant men, while enhancing the environment in the most unequal time period of American history.
The colloquial diction applied in this section of the text brings out the realism in the Southern environment in this era of the passage. First of all, Pap uses the common slang names in this time for the African Americans, signifying the racist South. "There was a free nigger there from Ohio-a mulatter, most as white as a white man" (Twain, 35). Pap diverts to using the terms "mulatter", or mulatto, and "nigger", instead of "Negroe", or a more respectful name. Many more men were the same as Pap, not displaying any respect for African Americans, Twain purposely inserted a character like Pap, and used colloquialism to point out how these men saw the African Americans as disdainful, enhancing the setting furthermore. Secondly, many of these ignorant men were illiterate, adding up to their uninformed lives, and again proctors the Southern society. "They said he was a p'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything."(Twain, 35). Pap's grammatically incorrect speaking of the English language shows the non educational ethic of the society in which many did not have to make good decisions and were unaware of what was going on.
