..have been made to read The Merchant of Venice over to the school.

[shootingstar]

Lady at a box: Oh, Mr. Webb? Mr. Webb, is there any culture or love of beauty in Grover's Corners?
Mr. Webb: Well, ma'am, there ain't much - not in the sense you mean. Come to think of it, there's some girls that play the piano at High School Commencement; but they ain't happy about it. Yes, and I see where my daughter's been made to read The Merchant of Venice over to the school. Seems all pretty remote to'em, y'know what I mean. No. ma'am, there isn't much culture; but maybe this is the place to tell you that we've got a lot of pleasure of a kind here: we like the sun comin' up over the mountain in the morning, ....
(Thornton Wilder, Our Town)

Hello everyone,
I don't understand the passage my daughter's been made to read The Merchant of Venice over to the school. Is over to school meant locally? I don' think so. I know what read over means, but read over to school puzzles me I'm afraid. What does the author want to express by this passage. Please help. Thanks in advance.

 

[yuliyaon]

I think the Commencement the character is talking about is a ceremony where students perform something. There are girls who play piano, and his daughter was asked to read some part of the play. So 'read over' here might mean to read aloud as an actress.

 

[Barque]

He appears to be speaking in a regional dialect. I take it to mean "I know that my daughter (or my daughter's class) is reading/studying the play, "The Merchant of Venice", at school".

 

[Barque]

I think the Commencement the character is talking about is a ceremony where students perform something. There are girls who play piano, and his daughter was asked to read some part of the play. So 'read over' here might mean to read aloud as an actress.

You could well be right. I took those two things (playing the piano and reading the play) as referring to separate events, but possibly both took place at the "Commencement".

 

[probus]

It's regional American dialect. In some parts of the USA some people say (or used to say) "over to" instead of "over at". I don't know exactly which parts, or whether the usage is still current or has faded away. @Tarheel? @SoothingDave? @Skrej?

 

[Tarheel]

I would say they asked her to recite it.

 

[Rover_KE]

Reading out the play would take hours. She probably had to recite an extract from the play—probably Portia's speech: 'The quality of mercy is not strained ... '

 

[probus]

I think the Commencement the character is talking about is a ceremony where students perform something. There are girls who play piano, and his daughter was asked to read some part of the play. So 'read over' here might mean to read aloud as an actress.

You are parsing it incorrectly. It's not the phrasal verb "read over", but simply read. "Over" is either an adverb or part of what you might call an adverb phrase. Compare the following: George wanted to attend the rally over at the park.

 

[probus]

@Tarheel, what I was asking is where in the USA do people use Wilder's "over to" rather than "over at", if anywhere.

 

[Tarheel]

@Tarheel, what I was asking is where in the USA do people use Wilder's "over to" rather than "over at", if anywhere.

Yes, but I have no answer for that one. (Maybe if I think about some more I will.)

 

[shootingstar]

@ #5, probus: .....don't know exactly which parts, or whether the usage is still current or has faded away.

Hello probus, thank you very much for helping me. I think the region could be New Hampshire and its environs, because the STAGE MANAGER in the play says in the first act:

STAGE MANAGER:
....
Howie Newsome's still delivering milk at Grover's Corners. He's an old man now, has a lot of help, but he still delivers it himself. Says he gets the feel of town that way. Carries all the accounts in his head; never has to write down a word.
Mr. Morgan's drugstore ain't the same, - it's all citified. Mr. Morgan retired and went out to live in San Diego, California, Where his daughter married a real estate man, name Kerby. Mr. Morgan died in 1935 and was buried in a lot of palm trees. Kinda lost his religion at the end and took up New Thought or something. They read some new-fangled poetry over him and cre-mated him. The New Hampshire in him sort of broke down in him in that climate, seems like.
...

 

[Tarheel]

"I see where my daughter's been made to read The Merchant of Venice over to the school "

Maybe it's a New England thing. Anyhow, I would say at the school.

 

[Barque]

I'm no American but I take "over to the school" as meaning "over at the school".

 

[probus]

Indeed it does mean "over at the school".