Zz Packer's Use Of Dialogue In 'Fi Tongue Shall Confess'

I agree with all of Burroway’s ideas, but that is partly because I had already learned most of them from past classes. I already knew the three main types of dialogue (summary, indirect, and direct) and I’ve always thought they were helpful for me. In fact, one of my assignments required me to write a scene containing nothing but dialogue, and this scene also had to include all three types. That assignment was great practice for writing dialogue that served multiple purposes, and I’m happy to share my submission for it if you would like me to. The ideas I didn’t know before reading this chapter are the additional uses of dialogue (Subtext and “No” Dialogue) and a few additional tips about pacing and formatting. I believe all of them are helpful, …show more content…
Junot Díaz’ story (Fiesta, 1980) specialized in vernacular and indirect dialogue. The narrator’s (Yunior’s) imperfect syntax and occasional use of Spanish words establish his voice and his background. It characterizes him. The lack of quotation marks for every spoken line gives the impression that he’s telling the story the way he remembers it. Every Tongue Shall Confess, by ZZ Packer, is a third-person narrative that consists of large paragraphs describing each scene, as well as Clareese’s thoughts and feelings. Most of the dialogue is summarized because it isn’t important to the story. The readers don’t need to know exactly what the minor characters say. They just need to know what they’re talking about to get a sense of setting. Cleophus Sanders’ dialogue, on the other hand, is direct because it advances the action. He brings out a change in Claresse. Emergency, by Denis Johnson, is almost entirely direct dialogue, and it follows every tip of writing dialogue too. The sentences are short and direct, the word “said” is frequently used as a tag, the actions convey the feelings, and there’s no exposition. This story is pretty much a perfect example of direct dialogue utilizing Burroway’s