Language

Style of writing

The language in the short story “Galveston” by Frederick Barthelme is casual and conversational. The style of writing closely resembles spoken language at times. For instance:

I’d never seen so many khakis anywhere. I mean, there are khakis around when you’re in your ordinary life – you see khaki, but not like this. Not on everybody, not without exception. I’ll say this for them, though. In Utah, they didn’t press their khakis, which I figure is a pretty big step forward.

The sentence structure in this passage closely mirrors that of spoken speech. There are also several phrases commonly used in verbal conversation, such as “I mean”, and “I’ll say this.” The sentences are short and simple, with several repetitions which highli...