In his novel Raney, Clyde Edgerton uses humor, sexuality and good diction in the form of arguing to show drastic changes in the character Raney from her previous sheltered life. Changes in Raney show her growth and development of new ideas toward sex, marriage and her own family.
             The novel Raney begins with an announcement of the engagement of Raney Bell and Charles Shepherd. Raney is a young white southern girl, not very well educated and stubborn about her own ideas. Charles is a white southern man, very well educated and also stubborn about his ideas. But Raney and Charles don't have all the same ideas, especially about marriage, sex and family.
             One of the best tools Edgerton uses in the novel is diction, especially in the form of arguing, which Raney and Charles do all the time throughout the novel. From the very beginning of their marriage they start arguing. Raney thinks Charles is drunk at the wedding and confronts him as soon as they walk down the aisle and outside. Charles denies it and then says he only had a little bit with his close friend that he was in the war with. This isn't a big deal at all but Raney acts like it ruined her wedding.
             The next big argument happens on their honeymoon night. After eating room service and having a sip of champagne, which might as well be illegal as far as Raney is concerned, she changes into her negligee, gets into bed and waits for Charles to come in and do his duties. Apparently Charles wanted to do a little more than that but it isn't clearly explained in the book. This causes an argument about sex and marriage. Charles said, "Nothing was in the Bible about what married people could or couldn't do"(20). This made Raney cry and Charles apologized. Raney thought she might be able to forgive Charles, but she would never forget this. Charles thinks they should talk about their sexual relationship but Raney says, "It's something your supp
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