Free indirect discourse is absolutely part of formalism.Writers use free indirect discourse in order to more directly displays character's thoughts and emotions. Free indirect discourse is a particular stlye of prose writing that was made popualr by writers like Goethe and Austen, and was used comonly in the modernist era by authors like Joyce and Woolf. Because formalists focus on the inherent features of a text; grammar, syntax, literary devices, etc., and not the text's historical, biographical and cultural backgrounds, they would be very interested in this style of writing. Writers use free indirect discourse in order to more directly displays character's thoughts and emotions.