Wharton employs period-specific American upper-class dialect throughout The House of Mirth. In doing so, she crafts authentic-sounding characters and gives readers a sense of time and place. For example, in this passage, Ned Silverton uses period-specific vernacular:
How any one could come to such a damned hole as the Riviera—any one with a grain of imagination—with the whole Mediterranean to choose from: but then, if one's estimate of a place depended on the way they broiled a spring chicken! Gad! what a study might be made of the tyranny of the stomach [...]
Words such as “damned” and exclamations like “Gad!” (a softened expletive, used in place of "God") are indicative of Ned’s setting in the early 20th century. Casual language like this tends to change more over time than other turns of phrase, with expletives being some of the most variable. “Gad!” as it’s used here places Ned within a specific time frame, giving the novel an increased sense of realism and local color. Expletives also vary by social position: the ones Ned uses suggest he belongs to the upper class.
Wharton’s use of dialect does more than place the novel within a particular historical context, however. In instances like these, her characters’ uses of dialect reveal aspects of their personalities. Ned's language here indicates that he is world-weary and cynical. The casual use of the word “damned” to describe the French Riviera—a place generally associated with luxury and beauty— indicates his dissatisfaction and his high standards. Ned implies that if one has “the whole Mediterranean to choose from,” the Riviera is a poor choice. He also indicates that people are led by stupid reasons to choose holiday destinations, criticizing the “tyranny of the stomach” as an indicator of the “estimate of a place” by people without “a grain of imagination.” Wharton’s use of “Gad!” here also highlight’s Ned’s agitation: he is so annoyed he’s exclaiming privately to himself. She uses the way Ned speaks to make him seem more realistic to the reader. The use of dialect here provides insight into Ned's frustrations and his critical, somewhat scornful view of the world.
