Dilapidated State Meaning

Dilapidated has a negative denotation that means to be “decayed, deteriorate, or fallen into partial ruin especially through neglect or misuse.” In the passage, dilapidated has a negative connotation that is used to characterize the way creole was used. Usually infrastructure is described as in a dilapidated state, but Chamousieu characterizes a language to suggest the inferiority with which the creole is looked at in public institutions. Creole “circulated easy,” but its “dilapidated state” refers to the misuse of Creole to say “insults, dirty words, hatreds, violence, and tales of catastrophe.” Previously, Creole was seen as the primary means of communication, but now, for society as well as the children use this dialect is used for only to spew harsh words from the mouth. It suggests the deterioration of the language as it has fallen in ruins. The “dilapidated state” also suggests the neglect when speaking in creole. Language is an important part of culture and the “degradation” of it leads to a loss of cultural identity. Similarly, this “dilapidated state” shows how it has been embedded in the young generation’s mind that French is superior to Creole and the Martiniquais students have come to believe this fact and speak Creole in a state of abandonment. This neglect is suggestive by the fact of the “mockery” when creole is spoken suggesting that the “dilapidated state” is one of shamefulness. In essence, the “dilapidated state” is what these classrooms have wanted to occur.
This “dilapidated state” show the internal conflict that the boy will be faced with in the future of whether to choose French or his native language, or to keep an “equilibrium” that has become