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123 essays on character analysis
Character analysis two kinds by amy tan
Character analysis two kinds by amy tan
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Melinda`s behavior reflcets the theme because she has come to the realization that keeping her feelings bottled up will not
On a seemingly emotional high after attending a high school party as a rising freshman, Melinda’s world got turned upside down when she was taken advantage of by a popular senior jock. Along with the pain of the trauma itself, Melinda was reminded of her terrible ordeal each time she came in contact with Andy: “I want to throw up and I can smell him and I run and he remembers and he knows. He whispers in my ear” (Anderson 86). When Andy encroached on her sanctuary in the art room and destroyed her work, Melinda shut down and locked herself in her closet, where she “stuffed [her] mouth with old fabric and screamed until there were no sounds left under [her] skin” (Anderson 162). While interactions with others could incite her anxiety and feelings of depression, continued encounters with her rapist further aggravated Melinda.
You are the most depressed person I’ve ever met, and excuse me for saying this, but you are no fun to be around and I think you need professional help’” (Anderson 105). Heather directly points out Melinda’s avoidance of conflict. Melinda doesn’t bother with social activities or any of Heather’s interests, preferring to be alone.
Melinda goes into a downward spiral; with her forms of expressing and coping with depression becoming progressively
In the book “Speak”, the main character went through some changes. From last year as an 8th grader she had a few best friends. This year, as a freshman in high school at Merryweather high school, she is starting the new year with no friends. The changes were caused by home and friend related events. Her identity was shaped negatively through these topics Melinda goes through changes because of her friend events.
Melinda only communicates non-verbally. She writes sticky notes and places them onto kitchen counters. She expresses her emotion by biting her lip or running away. When Heather tells Melinda that they can no longer be friends, Melinda then says, "I try to think of something b*tchy, something wicked and cruel.
This causes her to be unable to speak as normal and express herself only through self physical acts of hurting herself. However, through her pain, she begins to grow from a victim to a survivor and understands that the only way to go against evil is to speak out against it. Melinda in Speak is a high school freshman who is raped by Andy Evans who is a senior in high school. Due to him raping her she loses her ability to speak normally and say what she feels and how she feels. Melinda gains her confidence to speak in public freely again by the end of the story.
The impact the depression had on Melinda affected her a lot. She had lost all of her friends because of the party over the
At the end of the story she finally found her voice and was able to stand up for herself. In the beginning, Melinda didn't talk to anyone, barely even to her parents. She says, “I have tried so hard to forget every second of that stupid party and here I am in the middle of a hostile crowd that hates me for what I had to do. I can't tell them what really happened” (Anderson, 28).
Macy Scharpf Chin Honors English 9, Period 4 23 January 2023 Past events can often define the actions someone takes and who they are in the present. If society takes the time to analyze these actions, individuals can figure out the feelings of one another in a certain moment. “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson delineates the thoughts and feelings of a teenage girl, Melinda, as she navigates the highs and lows of high school, while carrying the weight of a past traumatic event. In the passage from the book, “Speak”, author Laurie Halse Anderson uses different types of figurative language such as similes and metaphors, as well as repetition to reveal Melinda’s negative thoughts on her past and current feelings about high school.
The new Melinda sees that she needs to say something and she works up the courage to help her once-friend. This really shows Melinda development as a person. She is overcoming her pain and
She didn’t have anyone to vent to or make her feel more important. She had to suffer through her life taunting experience alone. With no friends to help her through this tough time she felt it hard to persevere and thus found herself slip into depression. Little did Melinda know that all she had to do was fight through and eventually when she moved onto sophomore year she will finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Melinda is not the only one who went through hardships, so did Reavun in The Chosen.
Throughout the novel Speak, Melinda’s mouth becomes a symbol. As she works her way through her trauma, she develops a compulsion to bite her lips when faced with a difficult or stressful situation. It’s not uncommon for victims of her sort to take on some form of self destructive habit like this— generally, for either the conscious or unconscious purpose of punishing oneself for whatever event took place. It’s a guilt mechanism. This is, however, only one half of the symbol.
Melinda is distress by her silence. Melinda chooses to not speak up and isolates herself from family and friends. Melinda’s parents notice changes in her behavior, but they can’t seem to find out what’s wrong with her, Melinda’s mother even says, “‘I can’t get a word out of her. she’s mute’” (114). Melinda’s silence is causing her to lose her connection with her parents, which is affecting them too.
Melinda, in a lot of ways, starts out like that it the book. She becomes a shell of herself from before the party happened and because no one else was there, she is lonely and doesn't have anybody to go to and to make matters even worse, she’s covered by the reputation that she has formed. In the book, Laurie Halse Anderson uses symbolism to convey exactly what Melinda can't say. In the beginning of the book, Melinda starts high school carrying her emotional wounds with her after something happens mysterious to her at a party during the summer.
