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Comparing Voice In Speak And House On Mango Street

831 Words4 Pages

In literature, there are characters who use their voice regularly and roaringly express their opinions, and others who do not. In the two main books we have focused on this semester, there are characters that fit both of these descriptions. Melinda from Speak and Mamacita from House on Mango Street have situations in their respective novels, such as Melinda’s rape and Mamacita’s language barrier, that renders them voiceless and “different”. Andy from Speak used victim-blaming and forced himself into denial so he would not have to take responsibility for his grave actions. Throughout Speak, there are various dilemmas where Melinda cannot find her voice. While at school one day, she thought to herself; “Nobody bothered to tell me that study …show more content…

Andy was on the other side of the spectrum. Andy attended a party with Melinda and her friends and asked her to come to his car. There, he raped her, leaving both mental and physical scars on Melinda that will last a lifetime. At the dawn of the next school year, Melinda tried to rekindle her relationship with her friends that Andy forced her to lose,he walked towards her table and said; "Fresh meat” (150). Melinda immediately got up from the table and left, obviously distraught. Not only was this comment outrageously insensitive, it showed how he viewed his actions. He was using his voice and overall popularity to make Melissa seem small. In the world today, people who report to the authorities that they were raped by professional athletes are seen as gold-diggers and liars. If Melinda got up from her lunch table and proceeded to tell authorities about what had happened at the party, she may not have been taken seriously due to the image that Andy was viewed in. Later in the novel, Andy confronted Melinda after she bravely told Rachel, his girlfriend, what he had done to her. He responded by saying this; "I never raped anybody. I don't have to. You wanted it just as bad as I did. But your feelings got hurt, so you start spreading lies, and now every girl in school is talking about me like I'm so kind of pervert” (327). While also victim-blaming Melinda, Andy also silenced her and ultimately said it was her fault and

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