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Commentary On Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

1973 Words8 Pages

High school. It's a scary thought. Being prepared for things can be hard. Especially the changes that happened within one's identity. Imagine something terrible happened the summer before high school. 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. Melinda starts high school everyone hates her for calling the cops since lots of people got in trouble at that party. Melinda has one girl who she can call her …show more content…

In the beginning of the book all her old friends would make faces at her and not say anything but by the end of the book Rachelle started to realize that things happened to her and she needed her. When Melinda first gets to school she is trying to find someone to sit by in the auditorium for freshman orientation. While she is doing that she thinks to herself, "The kids behind me laugh so loud I know they're laughing about me. I can't help myself. I turn around. It's Rachel, surrounded by a bunch of kids wearing clothes that most definitely did not come from the EastSide mall" (Anderson 4). This is showing that Melinda’s old friends are making fun of her and laughing at her. Also it’s showing that everyone does not think of her the same way. Melinda is also not blend in with everyone because she is wearing different clothes. In the end of the book, Rachel starts talking to Melinda again after she finds out Andy Evans raped her. Another part in the beginning of the book Heather starts making friends with Melinda but when Heather starts using her, Melinda stands up to her. Heather is super nice to Melida and invites her to do things, but when she meets the Martha’s she slowly started to leave Melinda behind until she needed something. An example of this is when Heather is talking to Melinda in the beginning of the book, she corners Melinda and begs her to help decorate the faculty lounge. Melinda feels she is obligated to help. Then the Martha’s show up after her helping Heather, and Heather blew it off as if she is just getting homework from Melinda (Anderson 178) This is a great example of Heather using Melinda because she did not want other people to know that she helped her, and that they were friends. But after the Martha’s ditched Heather at the end of the book Heather came crawling back

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370 Words | 2 Pages

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel, Speak, Melinda is a dynamic character whose behaviors, thoughts, and words change and reflect the theme of the novel, not to keep ones emotions bottled up. First, Melinda acts in a shy and quiet manner because she had got her friends into trouble when she called the cops at the party. However when Melinda begins to make her own choicesfor herself and not let her emotions get to her, she realizes she will not let other people make her own descions. This is evident when Anderson writes “I mean no I won`t help you” (Anderson 179). This shows how Melinda will not be walked on by her peers.

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395 Words | 2 Pages

The purpose of Heather’s character is to give you insight about what Melinda is going through, and how she feels about herself. However, later in the novel, we find out that Heather was not being a real friend. Heather does not care for Melinda’s feelings, she doesn’t ask why people are mad at her,

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307 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout the book, Melinda has problems with her family. For example a problem with her family is that her parents don't listen or talk to her. Also her dad just comes home drunk not talking to her. Also Melinda has a lot of problems with her friends like. The problems with here friends is they don’t like each other anymore and the readers don’t know why.

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754 Words | 4 Pages

Also, the closet her “safe place” she always used to hide what happened at the party from everyone else becomes a dangerous place. “It”, also known as Andy Evans the boy who rapes her at the party breaks into the closet and tries to sexually assault her again. Melinda realizes she can't let this happen again and therefore fights back with everything she has. She realizes that her closet is not safe anymore and that she can't hide from her trauma. And that she can't hide from this problem, and she needs to stand up and speak to the problem.

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842 Words | 4 Pages

Melinda doesn’t know the exact reason why they ended their friendship with Melinda, but they definitely have a great impact in Melinda’s life because they were friends since they were little kids. Foreshadowing/ hyperbole As Rachel and her friends make laugh at Melinda, melinda share her past relationships with Rachel, she thinks, “If there is anyone in the entire galaxy i am dying to tell what happened, it’s Rachel. My throat burns”(14).

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551 Words | 3 Pages

Her “let go” friend turned out to be one of her good friends and missed her but eventually got over it. “ You mean we’re not friends anymore?” Melinda says (105). Melinda never noticed how good of a friend Heather was. Melinda finally had a friend she could trust.

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634 Words | 3 Pages

This shows that Melinda was so traumatized by what she experienced it caused her to become silent. Along with that because everyone around gave off the impression that she was disliked, Melinda felt she had no one she felt safe enough around to explain what happened that night. As the school year went on, Melinda

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562 Words | 3 Pages

Melinda doesn’t speak because of what happened at the party and she doesn’t think anyone will believe her. Or if they do believe her then Andy would do something to her or tell people that she was lying. Andy is popular so the students would think that Melinda had just said that to receive attention and make people forget what she had done at the party. The truth was that she was raped at the party and when she called the police, all of her friends were angry at her for getting them into trouble. They don’t understand what had actually happened.

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755 Words | 4 Pages

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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849 Words | 4 Pages

Not even Melinda’s “best friends” took the time to listen to the actual story. Melinda’s only response to this horrible incident is silence. This is only the start of Melinda Sordino's story. There is much more pain and hardship that will come throughout the novel

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657 Words | 3 Pages

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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924 Words | 4 Pages

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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849 Words | 4 Pages

These issues connect to Melindas as her ex-friends and support system acted as her life line, and when she lost them, she began to spiral into a fit of different issues. Melinda’s problems are amplified by her environment and the people within it. When Melinda first arrives at school, she is shunned by classmates and friends, as even her closest friends have turned on her after an incident over the summer. This animosity reaches its peak when Melinda approaches Rachel, and she replies, “Her eyes meet mine for a second. I hate you for not being able

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1218 Words | 5 Pages

She feels ashamed and blames herself for not being a good enough wife for Tom, just as Melinda feels guilty as though the rape was her fault, even if it really wasn’t. It is later revealed that in reality, it was actually Tom who had done all those atrocious things. He would lie to Rachel, blaming her for all the things he had done, just to make her feel guilty, weak, and worthless. Just how Andy had made Melinda feel after he raped her. With this connection, I can better understand Melinda’s character through Rachel’s in The Girl on the Train, which I read and enjoyed before I read

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1197 Words | 5 Pages

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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