How to show a ceremonial speech?

[Ivonia]

I'm trying to fix a scene early in my novel where the hero and his friends are swearing in the join the military. It's similiar to the US military's ceremony where an officer raises their right hand, and the person being inducted in raises their right hand and says a few words which they are bound by oath to honor.

Anyway, how would I write this in? The officer says a line, then the recruits say the same thing. Should I just write what the officer says, and assume that the reader is smart enough to know that the recruits are saying the same thing, or do I need to show the recruits saying the same thing?

Example:

"I promise to defend against all enemies foreign and domestic", Captain Evans said.

"I promise to defend against all enemies foreign and domestic," the recruits repeated.


Would I have to do something like that, or can I just write out the words that the officer says?

[macalicious731]

You could do it a number of ways. You could have the Captain say the dialogue, then write that the recruits repeated it. You could say the Captain spoke a few words of the oath, then when the recruits say it you could show it word for word in dialogue. Maybe you don't need the oath at all. Or, if you find particular sections of the oath important, maybe only those sections need be spoken by both the Captain and the recruits.

It's just going to be a matter of your preference.

[pianoman5]

Unless the oath in its entirety is especially different and gripping compared to the usual, perhaps it's more iinteresting to show how your hero reacts to it?

e.g. You could have the officer droning on, and the guys repeating mechanically what he says, but when he gets to the bit about, say, "faithfully serve your fellow citizens and glorify the name of the Yewnited States of Amurrica" you could crap on about how he gets a lump in his throat and how the pride swells up in his chest so that it's fit to burst. (Avoiding all clichés, of course.)

[katdad]

Well, a swearing in isn't really a ceremonial speech, and you therefore really don't need to put in the words at all.

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Mike and Eddie stood next to each other during the swearing in. At the "So help me God" part, Eddie was his usual slowpoke self, and so his "God" came out after everyone else had finished, making everybody snicker. This was met with an ironlike glare from the master sergeant.