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Varieties of speech presentation in the novel
Task C - Our answer
Dorrit's remarks are in the Free Indirect Speech (FIS) form. There is
a reporting clause ('to say') to which the underlined part of the extract
is grammatically subordinated, and that may make this extract look like
Indirect Speech (IS) at first sight. But in spite of the subordination
and the use of the past tense and third-person pronouns (which are deictically
appropriate for the narrator) these reported clauses contain various elements
which seem more appropriate for Direct Speech (DS):
(1) The 'Yes' is a response item typical of DS, and not normally found
in IS.
(2) The demonstrative pronoun 'those' and the modalised verb phrase
'would be' are deictically appropriate for the character, not the narrator,
and
(3) Lexically, some of the expressions feel like the words of the vain
man being portrayed - 'exceedingly acceptable' (= OK from Dorrit's perspective)
and 'being ready-made' (= not high enough quality from Dorrit's perspective).
The mixture of features, some of which are appropriate for IS, and some
for DS is typical of FIS. And the effect here is also typical of FIS.
The DS features give the speech vividity, but at the same time the IS
features distance us from what is being said, helping us to see the Father
of the Marshalsea in an ironic, disapproving light. Not surprisingly,
Little Dorrit, the faithful heroine, does not get her speech represented
in FIS form in the novel, because we are meant to sympathise with her.
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