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Brief Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

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In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson a girl Melinda is stuck with a deep dark secret in her. Melinda has just entered high school and there is an incident that happened to her over the summer. Melinda ended up losing all her friends, and becoming depressed. This incident was a senior at her school raping Melinda at a party. Melinda’s friend Rachel had gotten her into a senior party in the summer. At this party Melinda tried beer for the first time. Then she took another sip and then other cups. Melinda had become very drunk, and there is where Andy Evans was introduced and he started dancing with her. As they were dancing Andy convinced Melinda to go to the back with him and this is where Andy allegedly raped Melinda. He started raping …show more content…

This where everyone found out that she called the cops not knowing why. Here Melinda lost all her friends and kept this deep dark secret to herself. The song “ The Monster” by Eminem and Rihanna talks about how there is a monster in her life. And that there are voices in her head. The song “ The Monster” by Eminem and Rihanna Immensely relates to the overview summary of the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.
In the song “ The Monster” by Eminem and Rihanna, Rihanna states in stanza 1 “ I’m friends with a monster that's under my bed” this relates to Melinda and her deep dark secret. Melinda has this secret that is like a monster and is killing her. To begin, throughout the book Melinda is trying to forget this secret inside of her head but she can’t, it like a monster taking over her head. Specifically, Melinda states “ I bite my lip. I am not going to to think about it.” so Melinda hear is trying to forget get what happened to her. She just can't get this secret or monster outside of her head. It's always there and it is haunting her like a monster. Also on page 17 Melinda …show more content…

Everyone has this deep dark secret or monster inside of their head. A secret they never want to think about, but this secret does not go away. This secret affects their daily life decisions and how they handle everything. Personally i have a secret that I do not like to talk about. I always try to forget this secret or monster, however this is very hard to forget. This is like a like a monster inside of your controlling you. You try to move on or get along with this monster, however it's just always there. This deep dark secret literally speaks to you and makes your life depended on it. From taking a test to going to sleep this secret is just always there and it won’t go away or delete. You can’t go back and fix what you did or what happened. It will always be there controlling you like a monster inside of you. There will be these voices that come to you sometimes and tell you and remind you of what happened. However sometimes you can’t let this out, it will hurt you or it will hurt other people. Like Melinda she was scared, these voices were coming to her telling her what to do and who to talk to. She was afraid if she let this secret out she would hurt herself or other

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Melinda’s grades begin to drop and she starts to self harm by biting her lips until they bleed. When Heather notices that Melinda is depressed, she breaks her friendship with her instead of getting Melinda help. Her parents and guidance counselors notice her sudden decline, but think it’s just a ploy for attention. Months later, Melinda finally admits to herself that she was raped by Andy Evans. She starts going to class and reuniting with her friends.

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Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson should be mandatory reading for 8th graders due to its take on how trauma can affect the lives of its survivors. Through completed writing, the National Book Award finalist and Golden Kite Award winner, Laurie Anderson captures the thoughts of Melinda Sordino. After she gets raped and has to deal with a misunderstanding that leaves her silent and outcast. This short book of 224 pages is mostly written in short statements. From casual thoughts such as, “I zone out,” to ones with impact like, “Why go to school.”

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Then starting high school people change and everyone ends up hating certain people for something they cannot control. Plus, they lose all friends they have in the mix of things. In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character Melinda Sordino gets raped the summer before high school at a party. She was extremely drunk and called the cops after the incident happened.

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We can all agree that everybody has had or has physcological effects in their high school lives. In the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson the main character Melinda was raped by Andy Evans which resulted in many emotional and physical impacts. As a result of being raped, Melinda encountered psychological effects of being anti-social and self blaming. She also developed self-destructive effects such as her cutting her wrist. After being raped, Melinda became very anti-social.

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Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a novel regarding Melinda Sordino, a 14 year old girl, who gets raped at the end of summer party. Melinda ends up calling the police, causing all of her friends to absolutely despise her. The story begins as Melinda arrives to her first day of 9th grade friendless, receiving dirty looks from everyone in the halls. Her once happy personality, entirely transforms into the opposite. “I cry to let everything out” Initially, Melinda befriends Heather, a new girl to the school, but later Heather realizes that Melinda being her friend ruins her social reputation.

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There are many themes that are presented in the book Speak, such as to not be afraid to speak up about the truth. In the book, Melinda is a freshman in high school that is now an outcast after she called the cops on an end-of-summer party last summer. But there is more to the story. Last summer at the party, a guy named Andy Evans raped her. But no one knows the truth except Melinda.

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“Whenever we suffer a physical or emotional trauma, it is said that a part of our souls flees the body in order to survive the experience. With every cut and wound, our essence and vitality grows weaker. ”--Mateo Sol The experiences we go through in life sometimes leave damage or hurt in our souls, in order to overcome that, we have to let go of our feelings and happiness.

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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).

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Everyone at Merryweather High School is questioning: Why would Melinda Sordino bust the end of summer party? When really, everyone should wonder what really happened to Melinda at that party. No one actually cares how Melinda feels or what really happened to her. The only thing all her friends care about doing is making her an outcast and a nobody her Freshman year of High School. She has no friends and she has an unstable family life, leaving her alone for her thoughts to consume her mind and any feelings she had left.

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This moment is a huge turning point in Melinda 's life. This marks the moment when she finally speaks up about what happened. This event shows so much about who Melinda was and is becoming. Prior to telling Rachel, Melinda decides to send Rachel a note warning her about Andy. “I groan and rip out a piece of notebook paper.

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