In “Brownies” by ZZ Packer, the author writes, “‘Dammit!’ she said. ‘We’ve got to get them alone’… no one entertained the thought that they might fight back.”(13). Throughout the story, Packer frequently italicizes a single word in a sentence, often a sentence spoken by one of the children in the Brownies troop. This quote from page thirteen comes from the scene in which the main troop of girls is planning their retaliation attack on the troop of white girls. The first part of the line is spoken by Arnetta, and the second half of the line is part of the narration of the story from the thoughts of Laurel. Arnetta is speaking to the rest of the troop, letting them know that their best chance to successfully get revenge on the other troop is to surprise attack them when no adults are present. Laurel often tries to be the voice of reason for the group but is often told to be quiet by some of the other girls. So instead of telling the rest of the girls that the troop might fight back when provoked, Laurel remains quiet and doesn’t bring up the idea that their troop might have to fight. What the italics accomplish for this part of the story is in helping to more accurately convey patterns of tone in everyday speech. Younger children, who don’t yet have an expansive vocabulary, can find shifts in tone and amplitude helpful to express their thoughts in spoken words. In these two lines, both of which are spoken by young children, the italicized words indicate a dramatic change in tone from the speaker. In Arnetta’s line, the word ‘alone’ is italicized to have the reader read the word in a more evil and ominous tone in accordance with the maliciousness of their attack. In Laurel’s line, ‘back’ is written in italics to have the reader read the word in an obvious-sounding way. Rather than say the word as if everyone else is thinking of it, Laurel changes the tone of the word because she seems to be the only girl that is thinking of it. Both instances allow the speaker to say more with the same number of words. I came to this conclusion of the italics meaning a change in tone by first imagining the sentences without the italics and comparing the impression I received from that variation to the impression I received from the variation with the italics. From the variation without italics, regarding Laurel’s line, I got the impression that she, too, was unsure that the girls might fight back. If that were true, why include the line at all if all the girls are on the same page. The italics are important to differentiating Laurel from the rest of the group.
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