Melinda Sordino elucidates the many components of a mentally challenged character. Some of which are positive, such as her creative emotional ways of expressing herself, however, she undoubtedly highlights the negative torments of mental illness, like constant lack of enthusiasm, grave instability, and inability to love. For all of these reasons, I would not want to be friends with Melinda Sordino. Firstly, due to Melinda’s overwhelming struggle with depression, she consistently projects her absence of enthusiasm onto everyone around her. When Heather, Melinda’s incredibly optimistic and only friend, encourages Melinda to join a club with her, Melinda unkindly responds, “clubs are stupid” (23). Friendship relies on shared support of one another, …show more content…
Her emotional and social performance relies on fickle solidity that influences those around her. After Heather recommended Melinda seek professional help for her depression after breaking up their friendship, Melinda asks, “Isn’t that what friends are for, helping each other out in bad times?” (106). I interpret this quote as a tactic of manipulation, with the intention of making Heather feel sorry for defending her own well-being. Though Heather, as a social climber, broke their friendship for the wrong reasons, Melinda’s reaction is enough for me to understand her morals and perspectives on what friendship means to her. Although I would like to help her navigate herself during hardship, she does not consider nor care for her impact on others. If Melinda truly loved her friends, she would be able to comprehend the importance of balance between struggle and effort. This leads to my third point, Melinda does not have the capacity to love. Her situation is far from her fault, as she carries an emptiness within her in response to unwieldy trauma. I believe this emptiness is a result of the absence of self-love. Melinda conceals her truth in the shadows of ignominy she feels toward