What is the role of dialogue in the following excerpt from Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess? The change in her life did not come about gradually, but was made all at once. "She must begin as she is to go on," Miss Minchin said to Miss Amelia. "She must be taught at once what she is to expect." Mariette had left the house the next morning. The glimpse Sara caught of her sitting room, as she passed its open door, showed her that everything had been changed. Her ornaments and luxuries had been removed, and a bed had been placed in a corner to transform it into a new pupil's bedroom. When she went down to breakfast she saw that her seat at Miss Minchin's side was occupied by Lavinia, and Miss Minchin spoke to her coldly. "You will begin your new duties, Sara," she said, "by taking your seat with the younger children at a smaller table. You must keep them quiet, and see that they behave well and do not waste their food. You ought to have been down earlier. Lottie has already upset her tea."

The answer to the question: What is the role of dialogue in the following excerpt from Frances Hodgson Burnett´s "A Little Princess"?, would be, that it is a form to underline the truth of the statement made "The change in her life did not come about gradually, but was made all at once", on the book itself, in chapter 8.

Explanation:

"A Little Princess" is a novel for children that was written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and which was published in 1906. It narrates the events that take place in the life of Sarah, a little girl who goes from total happiness with her father, to utter misery when she learns about her father´s death, and she loses it all, to become a servant at the boarding school where her father had taken her while he was away in the war. However, in chapter 8, just after Sarah has learned that her father has passed away, and she has lost everything, things take a 180 degree turn because instead of a gradual loss, everything turns upside down in one go. This dialogue between Miss Minchin and Miss Amelia, as well as the events that follow, show this sudden and utter turn of events for Sarah.