Language

Here we look at the language of the short story “The Baddest Dog in Harlem” by Walter Dean Myers.…

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General description

The author mimics the English spoken in Harlem. There are multiple colloquial and slang expressions, as well as a number of grammatical errors related to verb tenses. Very often, the author mixes present and past tense in the same sentences in an incorrect manner. Here are some examples of the colloquial English typically spoken by African-American communities in the United States: “ ‘Hey, man, we sitting ducks here on this rail,’ Willie said.…

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Imagery and repetition

Imagery prevails in the second part if the story when the narrator offers detailed descriptions of what he sees, designed to create mental images for the readers. Here are two relevant examples:

Some more cop cars came and before you turned around there’s about seven cars and a whole mess of people milling around 145th Street trying to figure out what was going on. Then the kids started coming around and everybody was looking up at the windows where the cops were lookin…

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Similes

The author uses several comparisons (similes) which are quite simple and descriptive. Here are a few examples:

“Mary was going up the stairs like she was in a hurry to get somewhere.” (p. 22, ll. 5-6)

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Metaphors and hyperboles

The author also uses figurative language which creates metaphors and hyperboles (exaggerations). For example, “Mr. Lynch was so old he had washed dishes at the Last Supper.” (p. 16, ll. 8-10) is an ironical exaggeration meant to suggest how old Mr. Lynch seemed to the narrator.

In the example, “parking his old butt on the chair” (p. 16, l. 20) the author metaphorically associates the character’s ‘butt’ with a car, suggesting that …