Judy Wallace
asked
A. Robert Allen:
Hi Robert, Just finished Failed Moments. I will give the book a good review but just had a couple of questions. Why did Camille speak in broken English when no other character in that life did? And, Molly is not described as particularly short except in relation to Patrick who has to get down on one knee to talk to her. We know he's tall but just how short is she? Is she a little person? Thanks, Judy Wallace
A. Robert Allen
Hi Judy,
I'm so happy you enjoyed the book! Thank you for your questions. The broken English spoken by Camille was in recognition of the fact that she did not have education of any kind. Her son, Andre, also a slave, spoke very well because he had been educated by Patrice. If you recall, there was a passage in the book where Andre expressed great pride in the fact that he had read everything in Patrice's library. Very few of the other slaves have a tremendous amount of dialogue except for the maroons. Given that I presented most of their dialogue first in Creole and then translated English, the English was proper because I assume their Creole was fine. The leader of the maroons, Alanso, was also educated, so his non-translated English was at a higher level.
As for Molly, there are two references in the book regarding her height. The first you mentioned---Patrick had to stoop to kiss her, and there was another indicating that she needed to bend down when she received the occasional kiss from a man of normal size. Given those references, I would say that she might have been 5'6" or 5'7", which would have been very tall for a woman in that time, but a foot smaller than Patrick.
Again, thank you for your questions and your interest in the book. I am looking forward to reading your review.
A. Robert Allen
I'm so happy you enjoyed the book! Thank you for your questions. The broken English spoken by Camille was in recognition of the fact that she did not have education of any kind. Her son, Andre, also a slave, spoke very well because he had been educated by Patrice. If you recall, there was a passage in the book where Andre expressed great pride in the fact that he had read everything in Patrice's library. Very few of the other slaves have a tremendous amount of dialogue except for the maroons. Given that I presented most of their dialogue first in Creole and then translated English, the English was proper because I assume their Creole was fine. The leader of the maroons, Alanso, was also educated, so his non-translated English was at a higher level.
As for Molly, there are two references in the book regarding her height. The first you mentioned---Patrick had to stoop to kiss her, and there was another indicating that she needed to bend down when she received the occasional kiss from a man of normal size. Given those references, I would say that she might have been 5'6" or 5'7", which would have been very tall for a woman in that time, but a foot smaller than Patrick.
Again, thank you for your questions and your interest in the book. I am looking forward to reading your review.
A. Robert Allen
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