To mimic is to copy. Though a parrot is most commonly associated with the stereotype for mimicry, other creatures, especially human beings, engage in mimicry. Sometimes mimicry is used to trigger humor, sometimes as a jest, sometimes as a mis-guided attempt to boost a sense of selfworth or belonging, sometimes to explain, and sometimes to demonstrate a concept. Though mimicry has its negative, harmful side, it also has a positive side.
In writing, mimicry is often used to give depth and color to a passage. For example, in dialog the use of mimicry can demonstrate regional patterns of speech. This adds flavour and distinction which in turn clarifies the mental picture being created. Let's take a look at how this might work.
Read each of the lines below then match individual lines with the speakers listed underneath.
- "Move into line, please," she repeated the phrase over and over, her tone echoing the precise clip of her steps.
- "Would y' all move into line," he encouraged with a big grin.
- "GET IN LINE!" he barked, his harsh voice full of hatred and contempt.
- Southerner preparing to serve ice cream at a church social
- overseer at a Nazi concentration camp
- secretary at an employment agency
Did you get a mental picture of someone in a particular setting?
Try your hand at mimicry.
- Select 2 or more passages from your reading that demonstrate the use of mimicry.
- Select 3 or more characters from a particular time period but from differing regional and/or social areas. Think of a line that each of them could have said. Make the content as historically reflective as possible. Example: Is there a historical event that each of them might be responding to? the earthquake that caused the collapse of the pharaohs, Columbus returning from the Americas, the Riel rebellion, gold in the Klondike, last spike in the railway, sinking of the Titanic, flight, World War...As you have each respond, mimic the speech of their region or social standing in a way that creates a distinct mental picture of each. (peasant, knight, king OR pharaoh, priest, galley-man OR premier, immigrant, native American OR west coast, prairie, eastern seaboard...)
- Select three regional areas or areas of social distinction. Create a character for each. Use dialog to demonstrate the regional or social distinctions between your characters. (the deep South, New York, Upper Canada OR a British Columbian fur post, an immigrant settlement on the prairie, a suburb of Ottawa, OR....
Let your teacher know when you know that you have used mimicry in written dialog. Identifying mimicry in dialog, meets two skill clusters at once. Be sure to send samples of your work.