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Allegory
Key Examples in The Man Who Would Be King
Dialect
Explanation and Analysis—Loafer Dialect:
The narrator makes it clear from early on in the story that Carnehan and Dravot are “loafers,” a derogatory term for poor and uneducated white British people living in India. While the narrator speaks and writes in a somewhat formal version of English, Carnehan and Dravot speak in a specific dialect that communicates their social position as loafers. Take the following passage, for example, in which Carnehan is telling the narrator about an argument that he had with Dravot over the terms of their contract:
‘The Contrack only lasted till such time as we was Kings; and Kings we have been these months past,’ says Dravot, weighing his crown in his hand. ‘You go get a wife too, Peachey — a nice, strappin’, plump girl that’ll keep you warm in the winter. They’re prettier than English girls, and we can take the pick of ‘em.'
Related Themes:
