At the end of Langston Hughes' "Thank You, M'am," Roger has the $10 he needs to buy the blue suede shoes. How could a student write dialogue...

Langston Hughes' “Thank You, M'am” is a short (very short) story, often taught in ninth-grade, about a youngster named Roger who tries to steal the purse of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. Little does Roger know that he has picked the wrong woman to rob.

The great irony of the story is the fact that Ms. Jones actually gives Roger the money that he tries to steal from her and then sends him on his...

Langston Hughes' “Thank You, M'am” is a short (very short) story, often taught in ninth-grade, about a youngster named Roger who tries to steal the purse of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. Little does Roger know that he has picked the wrong woman to rob.

The great irony of the story is the fact that Ms. Jones actually gives Roger the money that he tries to steal from her and then sends him on his way with a little advice: “Goodnight! Behave yourself, boy!”

When writing dialogue, it is important to keep your characters' dialect in mind. A dialect is a regional or cultural variation in language. These characters' dialects are shown in the following verbal exchange:

“The woman said, 'What did you want to do it for?'

The boy said, 'I didn't aim to.'

She said, 'You a lie!'”

When you write dialogue between Roger and his friend, you should assume that they employ a similar dialect in their conversation. You don't want to make them sound like someone else.

I would also recommend that you include some sort of reference by Roger about something important that happened other than the fact that Mrs. Jones gave him the $10. Maybe the fact that she fed him or made him wash up. That would show more about the impact that she had on him in their brief encounter.