Cormier's Use Of Dialogue In Airman

Everyone has a point in their life when they feel like they need to make things right. In the dystopian novel Airman, by Eoin Colfer, that is just the case. Conor Broekhart, the main character, is framed and wrongly accused of committing a murder by the antagonist, Marshall Hugo Bonvillain. Before Conor is sent to jail, known as the Little Saltee, he has a talk with his dad. All his dad says to him is, “You have disappointed me and your mother. When you are released, don’t ever come back to us, seeking to ruin our family’s name.” After that point, Conor’s sole purpose is to make his wrong accusation known and make things right with his family, which includes restoring his family’s name. To tell the story of how the young Broekhart does this, Eoin Colfer uses dialogue, symbolism, and inner thinking, which all comes together to form the phenomenal novel Airman.

He also uses it to portray the characteristics of each character. He does this by incorporating conversations into the story, and that is where dialogue comes into play. For instance, when Conor first meets his cell mates at Little Saltee, he strikes up a conversation. Conor starts off by saying, “Hi, I’m Conor, and I committed a murder.” The reader knows perfectly well that what he said was a lie, but that single line of dialogue is what makes Conor infamous at Little Saltee. From the conversation Conor had with his cell mates, he also learned how things worked around Little Saltee, which is important for a teenager who wanted to survive in a harsh