preview

Russell And Lonnie Monologue Essay

Decent Essays

This passage illustrates the lack of connection between Cha-Cha and his brothers, Russell and Lonnie. He is desperately trying to get someone to understand the struggles in his life but he cannot seem to connect with any of his siblings. Flournoy wrote this section of the book so that it contains strictly dialogue between the characters. We, the readers, are not able to gain a clear insight as to how each character is reacting to the telephone conversation. When speaking over the phone, it is very difficult to judge the reaction of the person on the end of the line. This point is exemplified by the sentence structure of the conversation between Russell and Cha-Cha. Russell’s sentences are very short and choppy, almost as if he desperately …show more content…

Cha-Cha feels as though Lonnie is on the same page as him but Lonnie does not even know where that page is. It is sort of ironic that the person who tells Cha-Cha he believes in the haint, is the one who is not even paying attention to the details of the conversation. Right after telling Cha-Cha that he believes in the haint, Lonnie’s end of the line becomes quiet. I found this pause to be an odd aspect concerning the passage of time. It really creates an awkward mood where you don’t have a full grasp of what’s going on. How people interact over the phone is very different from how they interact in person. During a phone call, you are unable to see whether or not a person is an active participant. Their facial expressions are unknown and their attention is usually focused on anything except the conversation. This can be seen when Lonnie forgets his phone call with Cha-Cha to focus on finding the stud for his earring. The dialogue becomes less smooth at this point mostly because of the confusion on Cha-Cha’s part. His response of “Oh…” indicates that there is a noticeable pause in his speech. He appears to be annoyed by the fact that Lonnie cannot pay attention long enough to have a basic conversation with him. Lonnie’s inability to remain attentive is ultimately why this conversation has no connection. It is purely Lonnie telling Cha-Cha what he thinks he wants to

Get Access