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Character Analysis Of Speak In William Anderson's Novel Speak

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A theory, defined by the Webster dictionary, is “an idea that is suggested or presented as possibly true, but that is not known or proven to be true.” William Glasser was an American psychiatrist who developed reality therapy and choice theory. Glasser’s Choice Theory states that most choices are picked to please the five basic human needs of freedom, fun, love and belonging, power, and survival. Glasser believes that humans are driven by their genes to make choices based on what they need the most. The three needs of freedom, love and belonging, and power― and her lack of them― tell how Melinda in the novel Speak perceives herself as lonely, weak, and vulnerable. Melinda, the protagonist in Speak, is a girl who strongly believes that her silence is the ticket to freedom. She lies to herself about being okay with not speaking up, when deep down inside she knows that it is hurting her inside and out. Throughout the novel, it can be observed that her silence begins to have a major effect on her life. It is represented through a variety of scenarios; from gradual damage to her relationships, to her plummeting grades. As Anderson …show more content…

‘I hate you,’ she mouths silently,” (5) it is noticeable that Melinda lacks many of the five basic needs, but the one that she lacks the most is love. All throughout the novel, Melinda is isolated and treated as if she is no one. This makes her realize how lonely and weak she truly is. Laurie Halse Anderson states, “And I don’t have anyone to sit with. I am Outcast” (4). This displays how Melinda felt like she did not belong, and like she was not loved. No one made her feel special, not even her parents, because they didn’t understand what she going through, and never bothered to ask. Melinda was completely left out and was missing support from her family and friends. She lacks love and belonging, and this makes Melinda see herself as alone and vulnerable, which makes her life

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Speak was written in 1999 by Laurie Halse Anderson. The book is about Melinda, a freshman just starting high school. Melinda starts school off with no friends, she lost the ones she had over the summer. A traumatic event causes Melinda to shut everyone out, and not speak to anyone. Growing up usually takes time, but Melinda is rushed into maturity too soon and must help others do the same.

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Chains Character Essay How is it that an entire society can envision their future in freedom when one girl can’t? Chains, Laurie Halse Anderson’s award winning book is a compelling historical fiction story that will show instead of tell you the tear jerking truth about slavery, whilst keeping you at the edge of your seat wanting to continue on your literary journey with every page awaiting your arrival. Because she’s gullible, and superstitious Isabel’s negative characteristics are obstacles in the path of her finding her freedom. Despite these flaws her resilience is able to help her win against slavery.

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For my extra credit book report, I chose to read “Your Inner Fish” by Neil Shubin. Neil Shubin is a highly regarded paleontologist, and is extremely qualified to have written this book. Shubin studied at Harvard university and earned his Ph.D. in organismic and evolutionary biology in 1987. He also studied at Columbia University, as well as Berkeley. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2011.

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Her daughter, Izzy, on the other hand believes that her mother is selfish and is only thinking of herself. It bother her because her mother is so nonchalant and acts like her daughter doesn’t matter, but in reality he mother is probably doing this for her daughter. Second, the clashing of views of the mother and daughter cause tension because they misinterpreted each other. According to the text, “Opportunity? For me?

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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.

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" Speak also states on page 161 " I am a deer in headlights of a tractor, is he going to hurt me again? He couldn't in school... why am I so afraid. " These examples from the text show all the problems Melinda had, for instance what Andy did to her,

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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.

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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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In “chapter five: reading to write; writing to read” by Jacqueline, Joshua try to focus on what we read and how to read. They focus on four things that will help us to read and writing which is read for need, context, author, audience, purpose. They try to explain that when we read article we read it because we need to read. For example, if I have to do research for school or whatever the readers need to find an article that will help them. The readers need to understand what the article is about.

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A space where Melinda can physically be alone is what she needed to even more so build a wall between her and others, thus being why the closet is an important aspect and symbol. Isolation is what helped Melinda cope with her pain, this is what makes it the major theme in the novel. Melinda’s lips are cracked, swollen and scabby. Everyone

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Speak Essay: Figurative language has a tremendous influence on literature because it enlivens the words and makes them jump off the page. This allows the reader to visualize the scene in a unique, explicit way. Laurie Anderson’s Speak demonstrates an abundant use of figurative language. Figurative language appears in various forms; this includes simile, metaphor, personification, symbol, hyperbole and more.

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The novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is about a girl named Melinda, who shows signs of depression throughout the story. She has no friends and is hated by people she doesn’t even know. This is because she called the cops at a party, where she was raped. Anderson includes literary elements to show how Melinda is depressed. Throughout the novel, she uses many different literary elements to show Melinda’s conflict.

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She cares for him (literally and figuratively), showing that, what the reader anticipates being a point of disillusionment is not. It is mentioned, though, that she feels “miserable and everything felt gone” (Hemingway, 62), but she still loves Jim. This is a woman who should feel victimized, who should be hurt, who should be psychologically damaged, but she is not. Instead of feeling the pain of her world crumbling down, she steps back into her world of illusion, her world that has just become slightly unstable, and continues to inhabit

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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.

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The reality of the situation was that she had no control over her father’s death. There was nothing or no way that she could have prevented the events that took place. Although she was extremely angry with the situation at hand she learned that she had other things to be grateful for. She wanted people to know that even though something or someone has passed away you can’t stay stuck in the state of depression forever. You have to step back and look at your life because the reality is, life still moves on.

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