In Maycomb, one drank or did not drink. When one drank, one went behind the garage, turned up a pint, and drank it down; when one did not drink, one asked for set-ups at the E-Lite Eat Shop under cover of darkness: a man having a couple of drinks before or after dinner in his home or with his neighbor was unheard of. That was Social Drinking. Those who Drank Socially were not quite out of the top drawer, and because no one in Maycomb considered himself out of any drawer but the top, there was no Social Drinking.1. What's a "set-up" in this context? I'm not able to google it effectively.
2. I know that "top drawer" is a good thing (high class, elite, etc.) Is "out of the top drawer" a synonym or an antonym? Drinking socially seems classier than drinking behind the garage. Does that mean the people of Maycomb are specifically attempting not to present as classy?
With company came Calpurnia’s company manners: although she could speak Jeff Davis’s English as well as anybody, she dropped her verbs in the presence of guests; she haughtily passed dishes of vegetables; she seemed to inhale steadily. When Calpurnia was at her side Jean Louise said, “Excuse me, please,” reached up, and brought Calpurnia’s head to the level of her own. “Cal,” she whispered, “is Atticus real upset?”I know from Mockingbird that Calpurnia code-switches. She speaks like educated white people in the Finch home, and speaks like other black people within the black community. But I don't know how they're saying she talks in the presence of "company".
Calpurnia straightened up, looked down at her, and said to the table at large, “Mr. Finch? Nawm, Miss Scout. He on the back porch laughin’!”
After some interference-riddled googling, I suspect "Jeff Davis" refers to one Jefferson Davis, who, according to Wikipedia, was the president of the Confederate States of America during the US civil war. However, I don't know what his English is like.
The phrase "dropped her verbs" suggests a deviation from what is considered standard English, which suggests that Calpurnia talks more black in front of guests. Why would she do this? But in her answer to Scout's question, she appears to drop a verb (saying "He on the back porch" rather than "He is on the back porch").
Also, in Mockingbird, Calpurnia talks more black within the black community, which includes her immediate family. Which would suggest that she's "herself" within the white community and performing within the black community.
Unless this is another instance of unreliable narrator, and Scout is misinterpreting which language choices are Calpurnia's "company manners". But that still doesn't explain why she would perform blackness in front of white guests.
I know that this is laden with meaning, and I'm too far removed from the culture in which it was written to grasp the meaning.
7 comments:
A set-up in this context is what you pour the whiskey into. A glass with ice and some kind of soda (pop), and the rest of the soda in the can, might be typical.
Out of the top drawer is an extended version of top drawer, I believe. Synonym.
Perhaps I am also too removed from the culture in which this is written, but I don't think your lack of understanding is down to you. I think it's bad writing. I have no idea what this means either.
On second read: Jeff Davis' English would mean talking like a white southerner.
Calpurnia would perform blackness in front of white people because that's what those white people want and expect from black servants. She does not want to appear "uppity". She needs to show that she knows her place.
I can get this, but it's still bad writing.
I think I'm definitely too far removed from the culture in which this was written, because I never would have come to that conclusion. I would have thought that having a servant who comes across as educated would be interpreted as more prestigious for the employers.
Re: "set-up", did you know that one independently, or did you succeed in looking it up when you read the book?
Another sign that I'm too far removed from the culture in which this was written: if the text hadn't explicitly said so, I wouldn't have noticed that Calpurnia was speaking with a different accent/dialect. In Gone with the Wind, for example, I thought the dialect that was being written out was just a southern accent, without it even occurring to me that people of different races were speaking differently.
I knew set-up from other old novels and from old movies.
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