Why do we need to use indirect speech?

Indirect speech is used to report what someone may have said, and so it is always used in the past tense. Instead of using inverted commas, we can show that someone's speech is being described by using the word “that” to introduce the statement first. For example: “She said that she was not hungry.”

Explanation:

Hope it Helps!

"why don't you like me the way i am? " i cried. "i'm not a genius! i can't play the piano, and even if i could, i wouldn't go on tv if you paid me a million dollars! "

explanation:

the conflict between jing-mei and her mother is over jing-mei's piano lessons since her mother wants her to become a prodigy but she does not want to play it any more.