Birdsong

More than a technique for plot advancement, dialogue can also provide indirect characterization by revealing how a character speaks and acts.

When the narrator describes how her boss speaks to her lover the day she met him, her boss’s word choice and repetitive speech convey a character that ingratiates himself with powerful people: “Our boss shook [her lover’s] hand with both hands and said, ‘Welcome, sir, it is good to see you, sir, how are you doing, sir, please come down and sit down, sir’” (Paragraph 3). The repetition of the word “sir” as well as his speech’s syntactical arrangement portrays a character who is quick to cater to authority.

Nevertheless, as an author who uses her writing to provide social commentary on issues of gender, race, and/or sexuality, Adichie also uses dialogue to provide crucial cultural and social information. Therefore, dialogue is a literary device that strengthens the reader’s connection to the narrative’s themes, painting a detailed picture of the social rules that govern life for women in the story’s world.