Examples Of Dialogue In Red Kayak

Imagine your deepest, darkest secret eating you up inside. You have two choices: fess up and rat out your only friends, or keep everything inside, and suffer mentally and emotionally. This situation actually occurs in the book Red Kayak. Narrating the story himself, Brady Parks, the main character, recalls how he'd been waiting for a ride to school one cold morning in April, accompanied by his two best friends, J.T. and Digger. The three boys saw a red kayak heading out onto the river (thinking it was Mr. DiAngelo, but was instead Mrs. DiAngelo and Ben, their three-year-old son) and, despite the bad weather, neglected to call out any kind of warning. This was because they wanted revenge on Mr. DiAngelo for buying Digger’s grandfather’s property,

and destroying all the places the boys loved to hang around (including their tree house and lake). Although it is clear from his words in the novel's first chapter that Brady is not entirely over Ben's death, and the role he inadvertently played in it, his story ends on a hopeful note; the Parks are closer as a family than ever, and Brady has finally overcome his grief and guilt enough to return to the river that he loves. Red Kayak is a good example of realistic fiction. Realistic fiction refers to stories that might really happen, which are set in a particular time, that may happen to specific people. The plot focuses on everyday problems, pleasures, and personal relationships, and the setting seems as the real world as we know. Realistic fiction allows the reader to identify with characters who are their own age, and who have the same interests or problems. There are five elements of realistic fiction: credible events (contains conflicts and problems that could occur in the real world), authentic characters (consists of characters who are convincingly developed, multi-dimensional, and show growth over time), real settings (has settings that are vividly portrayed, and that could exist in the real world), true-to-life themes (has memorable themes that could be applied to one’s own life), and believable dialogue (contains realistic conversations that help the reader understand the plot and characters). Red Kayak is an example of realistic fiction because of its credible events, authentic characters, and believable dialogue.
One reason that Red Kayak is a good example of realistic fiction is because of its credible events. An example of a credible event is Ben dying. The reader hears this news on page 49 of the novel (but occurs prior to that part of the story), and it says, “We got into the front seats, and when my mother pulled her door closed and sighed, it hit me. She had bad bad news about Ben. Ben was in a coma or something. He did have brain damage. Somehow, they already knew that he would never be the same. Instead, Mom turned to me and said, ‘Ben died.’ At first, I ” This supports that Red Kayak is a good example of realistic fiction because this event could really happen in real life. Another example of a credible event is Mrs. DiAngelo having a baby, which happens on page 206, when it says “She [Brady’s mom] also found out that Mrs. DiAngelo would have a baby girl in December.” A third example of a credible event is the DiAngelos moving. This also takes place on page 206 of the book, where it states, “A “For Sale sign appeared at the end of the DiAngelos’ driveway a few days later. We’d already heard that they moved out…. They were living in Virginia, someone told Mom at work.” These two events are very likely to happen in real life, and they do happen quite frequently. In summary, Ben dying, Mrs. DiAngelo having a baby, and the DiAngelos moving are all examples of credible events because these are all examples of events that could really happen in the real world, and events that many people experience at least once in their lives.
Another reason that Red Kayak is a good example of realistic fiction is because of its authentic characters. For instance, Carl is an example of an authentic character. An example of him being developed as an authentically-developed character can be found on page 4, when the novel describes Carl as a figure Brady learns a lot from and looks up to. The book says, “My cousin Carl comes over a lot. He’s a paramedic and sees a lot of gross stuff, so he knows about getting things out of your head.” The novel also describes Kate, Brady’s crush, on page 16. The book says, “... I noticed J.T.’s sister, Katelynn, signing in late at the main office. When she waved, it made me feel kind of nice because I liked Kate. Even though she was a seventh grader, a year behind us, she was a neat kid. I pointed and grimaced, a clear reference to the cast on her leg, which was there for the ankle she broke during lacrosse practice. She made a sad face. I knew it was killing her to have to sit out the season because she loves sports.” Both Carl and Kate are examples of authentically-developed characters because they seem as they could be real people in our world, and they are convincingly-developed. In conclusion, these authentic characters are part of just one element that helps Red Kayak to be classified as realistic fiction.
A final reason why Red Kayak is a good example of realistic fiction is because of its believable dialogue.

To illustrate, an example of believable dialogue is when J.T. and Digger are arguing over green tea, like typical teenage boys. This can be found on page ___, when the book says, “.” This is an example of believable dialogue because it seems as a real conversation that middle schoolers in our world would have. Another example of believable dialogue is Kate and Brady’s conversation about Brady coming over to Kate’s house for a sleepover with J.T., which takes place on pages 68 and 69. On those pages, the book states, “When I bent down to pick up my books, she [Kate] said, ‘I guess I’ll see you tonight. Mom said you were coming over.’ Surprised, I straightened up. ‘I thought you were going to North Carolina.’ Kate’s eyes widened. ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘J.T. said—’ And it hit me fast. J.T. had made up the story because he didn’t want me over. ‘I’m confused,’ I mumbled, scrambling to figure out why. ‘I guess I got it mixed up.’” This is a classic situation that happens in middle school (one friend talking to a sibling of a friend who is mad at the other, who is supposed to be coming over, but doesn’t want them to, so they lie, and the original friend finding out from the sibling that their sibling was lying), with so much drama occurring during these years. In all, these are examples of believable dialogue because they seem as conversations real kids would have, and they help contribute to the element of believable dialogue to make Red Kayak be considered realistic

fiction.
As you can see, Red Kayak is a case of realistic fiction in view of its credible events, authentic characters, and believable dialogue. These elements, in addition to real settings and true-to-life themes, are what help contribute to the novel’s classification of being considered realistic fiction. Because of this, readers can relate to the events occurring, characters, and conversations being held in the book. Although Red Kayak is only a fictional story (that could actually happen), it makes you realize that you are not the only one going through hard times, similar to Brady throughout the novel.