In In the Appalachians They Speak Like Shakespeare by Michael Montgomery, several examples were brought up that go hand in hand with Teun A. van Dijk’s description of the control of public discourse. Educators, clergymen, journalists, and travel writers are described by Montgomery as the ones attempting to formulate and promote the idea that Shakespearean English is spoken in Appalachia. Van Dijk can explain this group of people because of their influential positions and access to control over content and structures of text and talk. Van Dijk’s position is heavily supported by Montgomery. In fact, it is supported in a less than obvious manner. The movie Deliverance is used as an example for this. Although the movie Deliverance is generally known as portraying a negative image of Appalachia, it has actually helped created discourse in the belief in Appalachian Shakespearean English. For one thing, it can do this because of the fact that it is a Hollywood movie, so it has major control over content that will be shown to a widespread audience. Montgomery gives the example that some people that actually go to Appalachia after seeing Deliverance have some sort of a revelation and believe that people there do speak Shakespearean English. This is because people expect Deliverance when they go to Appalachia and when this isn’t the reality, they believe other things they hear, like the Shakespearean English myth. Interestingly, this is in the face of virtually no evidence supporting the idea of Shakespearean English in Appalachia. So, a negative portrayal of Appalachia caused people to believe in a positive portrayal of Appalachia, which had no evidence backing it.

The depiction of the Appalachian people requiring the pity of outsiders is a reoccurring theme in Frost’s writing. He relates the need of a fresh air fund for city kids to a fresh idea fund for the Appalachian kids, showing sympathy for their isolation.  Frost rationalizes the condition of the Appalachian people, making sure to point out that simply calling them “behind the times” is harsh. He continues to do this by saying “that mere illiteracy is not fatal to character.” Frost identifies illiteracy as a problem seen by Appalachian outsiders and rationalizes it by making it seem like illiteracy is not a major problem. A problem with these depictions is that they support Frost in saying that the Appalachian people live in an “old feudal way.” This is a problem because it counters his earlier statements in saying that calling the Appalachian people “behind the times” is harsh. In the eyes of the reader, calling something “old and feudal” is the same as calling it “behind the times”. Harney depicts the Appalachian people as individualistic. Harney refers to the Appalachian people as living in “patient poverty”, demonstrating that they are comfortable living in their current conditions without outside help. This builds on a story told by Frost where no one in the mountains of Kentucky would confess their need for money to outsiders, showing that they were indeed “patient” with their poverty. This depiction is not as problematic because it identifies the Appalachian people as having “social codes and moral standards”, something outsiders can regularly miss because they are stuck on the peculiarity of life and the people of Appalachia.