Death of a Traveling Salesman

Vernacular dialogue in “Death of a Traveling Salesman” roots the story in setting, which is key to the story’s underlying ideas. Specifically, the vernacular of the American South (and even more particularly, Welty’s native Mississippi) rings through mainly in Sonny’s dialogue—and a bit through the woman’s, too. Bowman’s speech, on the other hand, is disjointed and awkwardly professional, as he unintentionally slips into salesman rhetoric: When he first meets the woman, he says, “I wonder if you would be interested—” (110) but stops himself before launching into a misplaced sales pitch. When he tries again, the more authentic request comes through: “An accident—my car…” (110). Bowman’s different (and sometimes misplaced) style of speech emphasizes that he is lost in his modern life, driven by profit and confused about what grounds his spirit. He stands awkwardly outside of his people’s culture. Contrarily, Sonny’s dialogue is straightforward and fully Southern: “I done got your car out, mister. She’s settin’ a-waitin’ in the road, turned to go back where she come from” (114). In the time that Bowman bumbles, sits sickly and mostly silent, and has no way of rescuing his car from the ravine, Sonny simply retrieves the car and says it is done. Sonny’s vernacular—the grammar, diction, and accent (expressed in the dropped g’s)—associate him with Southern values of agrarian labor and a close-knit familial relationships, while Bowman’s dialogue paints him as lost amidst his own culture.

In the woman’s home, Bowman notices that the “bed had been made up with a red-and-yellow pieced quilt that looked like a map or a picture, a little like his grandmother’s girlhood painting of Rome burning” (111). This is an allusion to the actual historic event in 64 A.D. when the city of Rome burned and, the historian Tacitus claimed, Nero watched on “while merrily playing his fiddle” (PBS. “The Great Fire of Rome, Background.” PBS, 2014). This allusion links Bowman’s character to the idea of spending time frivolously, on all the wrong things, while life is at stake. While Bowman has spent his life occupied by trivial matters compared to human connection, the woman and Sonny are steadfastly focused on one thing at a time—and ultimately focused on each other. Bowman notices that the woman stops cleaning a lamp when he approaches her—“He saw that with her it was not a time for doing little tasks” (112)—and later, Sonny moves through tasks quickly and has time to eat and be with his wife to end the day. The allusion to Rome burning connotes the frivolity of Bowman’s profit-centered life.