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Journal Response To Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

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While reading the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, I made several connections to the real world. This journal response will explain those connections and how they relate to Speak and to my own life. The first connection I made was about the plot of the book, specifically the intrapersonal conflict that Melinda experiences. Melinda is sexually assaulted and must deal with the guilt and shame that she feels, even though it was not her fault. Because of this, she has a difficult time speaking out about the event that happened to her. The struggle that Melinda goes through and what she feels is similar to that of countless women who have been in the news lately. Recently, more women have come out and talked about their experiences with sexual …show more content…

Many of these women, much like Melinda, felt very guilty and shameful about what was done to them, and were scared to be judged by other people. They also were afraid that they would not be believed. This is something that happens to many women and girls in the world, and most are afraid to talk about it for a long time. Melinda, like some of the women of Hollywood who have been in the media recently, was too scared to talk about what had happened to her for a while. She eventually felt supported by others and shared her story with other girls at school. This caused many other girls to share that they had gone through the same thing, much like the “Me Too” …show more content…

The Beast is seen as a terrible and frightening monster. However, once Beauty gets to know him and his story better, she learns he is not as unpleasant as she originally though and finds that he has a good heart. Both of these stories demonstrate the theme of appearance vs. reality, when a person or situation appears to be one way but the reality is much different. This is relevant to myself and my life because often many people are not what they seem to be, whether a person seems unkind but really isn’t, or vice versa. This is also relevant to my life when I hear or read stories but the reality is much different. This book shows that things aren’t always exactly what they

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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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In “Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character is Melinda the setting is in Merryweather high school her situation is she is alone. Some people are Ivy, Heather, Melinda, Rachel, Mr Freeman, Mr. Neck, and Hair women. She has no friends, she is an outcast. Melinda can talk to her parents, her teachers, and her friends but she doesn't for a long time but does later.

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1659 Words | 7 Pages

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a book about a girl named Melinda Sordino. In the beginning of this book the audience meets Melinda as she is the main character and she describes her first day of high school starting with an assembly. Throughout the book you read about her life but she goes back to the past recalling of something that happened at the end of the summer; in a couple of instances she comes across someone that she refers to as “IT”. When reading you don't know who this “IT” is but it is developed over the story by her having flashbacks to that night or dropping a hint of what happened. During a seminar at the beginning of the book Melinda meets someone named Heather who is new and becomes her friend but ultimately leaves her

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710 Words | 3 Pages

“Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson was first recognized as an inappropriate book in 2001 by Wesley Scroggins. Speak is about a girl named Melinda who is raped at a party by Andy Evans during the summer and she calls the police. She is socially rejected by her old friends. Her friends don’t know the whole story but only know that Melinda called the cops and ruined the most important part of the summer. But Melinda manages to find solace in her art class taught by Mr. Freemen.

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848 Words | 4 Pages

Speak Journal Response The book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson creates many connections; whether they are real world, virtual or personal. This journal will explain those connections, and show my thoughts on them, as well as how they have impacted my view on different, related, topics. My first connection is about Character, between Melinda’s parents, and Qibli’s (Key-Bee) parent’s in the book Wings of Fire.

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471 Words | 2 Pages

Melinda is an outstanding example of a sexual assault victim afraid to speak up. Melinda passes out from

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1768 Words | 8 Pages

Melinda is raped by an older boy at a party the summer before her freshman year of high school. The impacts of this event are socially and psychologically devastating for Melinda. Her declining mental health renders her physically unable to speak about being raped over the summer. She is unable to cope with her trauma, and forced to suffer alone. However, she eventually becomes empowered to speak up for herself and about her experience.

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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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474 Words | 2 Pages

Do you know what it is like to be disliked by almost everyone in your school? The main character of this book. It follows a freshman in high school, Melinda Sordino, who busted an end-of-summer party and is now hated by many students. She had a reason to call the cops, but no one knows because she hasn’t spoken up yet. The outsider in “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson is Melinda because she isolates herself, people avoid her, and she barely speaks.

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924 Words | 4 Pages

Drunk, dazed and violated she called the police on the huge party she was at. She soon developed a case of post traumatic stress disorder. Melinda became closed off and stopped talking. She never told anyone about her rape. All of her old friends rejected her after the call to the police.

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After Melinda admits to herself that she was raped, Melinda starts to realize that

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Told in many different ways Beauty and the Beast is the story of a young beautiful girl held prisoner by a hideous beast. The story always ends with the Beast winning Beauty over even though he is an unattractive creature. Expressed in a third person point of view, but with the focus on Beauty, De Beaumont’s version is different then Straparola’s version “The Pig King.” “The Pig King” is also told in a third person point of view, but the focus is on the Pig King and not Meldina. This completely changes the focus on the story and the way that the reader interprets it.

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The work of Ovid, Metamorphoses, has a central theme of changing and transformations that occur in some way in each story. The modern work, Beastly, a movie that is contemporary spin of the child’s fairytale, Beauty and the Beast, shows a transformation of its own. The main character begins the story as a narcissistic, arrogant, young man that thrives on physical appearance. He is cursed and turned into a hideous monster until he finds real love. This story explores how the movie is a modern twist of the classic story Beauty and the Beast but also a physical transformation that leads to a psychological change like the stories seen in Ovid’s work.

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1205 Words | 5 Pages

She writes many novels on difficult subjects in society (“Laurie Halse Anderson-Mad Woman in the Forest”). In Speak, the main character, Melinda Sordino, was raped at the end of the summer before her freshman year. The novel follows her hardships as an outcast in the jungle-like environment of high school and her struggles to speak up for herself when she needs to the most (Anderson 3-198). In the novel Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson

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