Vernacular Tradition From Mark Twain To J.D.Salinger And To Amy Tan

Vernacular language in novels is the writer's repeatedly emphasized narrating language(usually belonging to a special district or age group) as well as the characters' direct language, usually different from the accepted language of the society and the formal literary language. It can be humorous, with carnivalistic intent, but in essence is subversive and dialogic. Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn's Adventure, Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, and Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club have been chosen in this thesis to see the vernacular tradition in American literature.The authors bear obvious intention to make use of the vernacular language to serve their respective purposes, rather than any spontaneous drive to record the different voices as they are. Both Twain and Salinger exaggerate in their use of vernacular language. Huck always assumes a serious and thoughtful narrative tone, with obvious intent to be adult alike to incur laughter. Huck's language seems to bear no intent to be comic, but his language is so embroidered that the effect is amusing. Hoi den's language seems to be amusing, while in essence is more serious than Huck's. He also exaggerates, which can be viewed from the way he treats figures in his narration. The Chinese dialect as the Chinese immigrant mothers' vernacular language is grouped in three types, from which we can view Tan's exaggerated way of using vernacular, which can also be viewed as a flaw to the book. Vernacular language is in fact a double-voiced discourse, with superficial reference and real direction. For the immigrant mothers, their vernacular language is their disguise to shun their daughters from hurt and for them to keep their identity.All main characters in the three novels have undergone mental development, either their vagrant trips to a new territory, or their survival in a new state. And language plays an important role in characterization in each book. For Huck, his juvenile language also symbolizes his escape from the civilized white society. For Holden, his teenage vernacular betrays his inner quest for a "Great Man" driven by the fear of death and sex. For the Chinese immigrant mothers, their vernacular language shows their fear of being hurt by their American daughters.It is the epitome of the States as an immigrant nation where every ethnic group hopes to find its voice expressed. With the help of vernacular language, the three novels earn their literary immortality.