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Corruption In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

583 Words3 Pages

Imagine being the most hated person at school, losing all your friends and your loved ones. Imagine having your voice and confidence taken away from you, how would you feel?
This is the life of highschool freshman, Melinda Sordino, the protagonist in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, drastically transforms after recently attending a summer party where she was sexually abused by senior, Andy Evans. During this party, she attempts to call the cops to get some help, which resulted in many complications in Melinda's life later on. Students in MerryWeather High don't know why she called the cops, she keeps it untold. For this reason, people start to hate Melinda including her closest friends. Melinda loses her voice as she becomes an outcast and struggles to strive her way to peace. However, Though Melinda is speechless in the beginning, she was able to …show more content…

Melinda is isolated from everybody at school, this affected her ability to speak openly about her pain with the strong animosity held upon her. At a pep rally, Melinda is publicly humiliated about the party by a group of students sitting behind her. “‘You’re Melinda Sordino?’ I turn around. She blows a black bubble and sucks it back into her mouth. I nod. Heather waves to a sophomore she knows across the gym. The girl pokes me harder. ‘Aren’t you the one who called the cops at Kyle Rodgers' party at the end of the summer?’ [...] Another girl chimes in. ‘My brother got arrested at that party. He got fired because of the arrest. I can’t believe you did that. Asshole’” (Anderson 27). Melinda avoids talking about her assault as she is struggling with feelings of guilt, shame and fear, fear of being judged or not believed if she tells someone about what happened to her. Melinda is haunted by the memory of her rape which contributes to her decision to keep her assault a secret. Therefore,with Melindas

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Every year over 63,000 teenagers are raped. After Rape incidents, many victims suffer from trauma and painful emotions. A similar situation occurs in the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. In this story, Melinda Sordino, a high school freshman, is raped by an upperclassman. Many rape victims never recuperate from their attacks, but the strongest few do.

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But no one knows why she called the police because she keeps the rape secret from everyone. She is constantly getting ignored and she is constantly scared and nervous so she needs to find a place to hide and keep all of her problems locked

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But the reports I’ve been getting…well, what can we say?’” (Anderson 114). This meeting makes it clear that Melinda was previously an attentive student but as her mental health struggles got worse, her school life deteriorated as well. The principal states that last year—before her

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Melinda was less aware of the impact her teachers would have on her life, but received similar support to Anderson’s from her art teacher. After attempting to teach Melinda to use her voice through art, Mr. Freeman eventually tells her, “‘Melinda, [...] You're a good kid. I think you have a lot to say. I’d like to hear it’”

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Have you ever needed somebody to help you achieve your desires? .In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character has a hard time speaking. Melinda stated the mood in the novel by saying “…me with an S maybe, S for silent, for stupid, for scared, S for silly, for shame”(Anderson 101).Throughout the school year Melinda relies on her attacker, friends, and a trusted teacher to speak up.

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Imagine a fourteen year old girl starting fresh into high school without anyone to help guide her through it, and worst of all you have been keeping a secret from everybody else for far too long. Melinda Sordino is a freshman in high school who is going through many difficult situations in her life. She was raped by a senior named Andy Evans who is now dating Melinda’s ex-best friend Rachel. Due to certain situations and circumstances, Rachel ended the friendship between her and Melinda. Melinda never got the chance to explain, Rachel just left her in the dust and continued on with her life.

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Because of the situations that Melinda was put in, readers have the right to presume that being silent is the best solution. This method does work some of the times. When Melinda was

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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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