Dialectical notes on To Kill A Mockingbird?

Question:

Dialectical notes on To Kill A Mockingbird?

I was assigned a summer reading project and I have to read To Kill A Mockingbird and give 40 dialectical notes from the text. I have no understanding whatsoever of what dialectical notes are. Can anyone explain? Please and thank you (:

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I'm guessing you're not reading TKM for a college rhetoric class. If you are, then ignore this answer. If, however, you're reading this for high school (or junior high), then this may help.

I think the problem is the word "dialectical." A "dialectic" refers to a form of dialogue in which a thesis and an antithesis are considered, and an attempt is made to use both of these to create a synthesis. I don't think that's what you need to do, because I don't think there are 40 such instances in the novel.

The intent of your assigment might be to find 40 instances of "dialect," a manner of speech particular to a specific region. There are many examples of this in TKM. One that comes to mind is Scout commenting on Miss Maudie's Lane cake, that it "was so full of shinny, it made me tight" (I'm going from memory here, so that might not be exact). There are two examples of dialect there: "shinny" is a reference to moonshine; "tight" is a reference to feeling drunk.

I hope this helps.