The Treasure of Lemon Brown

In literature, dialect refers to a distinct variation of a language spoken by a particular group of people. Dialect varies according to the region, culture, and community a character belongs to and includes differences in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Walter Dean Myers uses dialect to establish the story’s setting and lend authenticity to his characters. Greg and Lemon Brown speak different dialects because the former is a teenager from Harlem while the latter is an elderly man from the Deep South. Much of the story consists of dialogue between the protagonist and the deuteragonist, and Myers’s usage of dialect helps to give the characters distinct voices, as demonstrated by the different ways they frame the same question: “‘What are you doing here?’ Greg asked. ‘This is where I’m staying,’ Lemon Brown said. ‘What you here for?’” (36). Dialect also contributes to the story’s characterization and mood. For example, the author raises the suspense and adds color with Lemon Brown’s bluff that he has “a razor here sharp enough to cut a week into nine days” (36).