Sexual Assault And Rape In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

More children are exposed to sexual assault and rape than you probably think. According to d2l.org (Darkness to Light), “About 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday.” Melinda Sordino is the one out of ten. In Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda Sordino shows us the thoughts and feelings experienced by many of these young victims. Melinda was raped by Andy Evans while attending an end-of-summer party before her freshman year of high school. This assault impacted Melinda in various ways and many symptoms remained with her throughout the school year. As a result of the sexual abuse, Melinda begins to showcase the various psychological effects of rape; physical and mental instability, feelings of guilt and worthlessness

Melinda proves this to be true on numerous occasions. First, Melinda puts herself down due to her looks and personality. This is shown specifically on page 17, ‘Two muddy circle-eyes under black-dash eyebrows, piggy-nose nostrils and a chewed up horror of a mouth… I get out of bed and take down the mirror…” This explains how Melinda would rather look at a blank wall than her own reflection. She does it once again to the mirror in her closet at school in ‘Closet Space” on page 50. Melinda also shows her feelings of guilt and worthlessness by not believing that she can do the same things as the other kids. Melinda doesn’t think she is able to do the same things as other kids so she doesn’t even bother trying. This is seen in “Riding Shotgun” on page 121-122. Mr. Freeman, Melinda’s art teacher, mentions how her work has been growing a lot. Melinda replies with, “I don’t know anything. My trees suck.” This shows that Melinda doesn’t think anything she does will ever be as good as anyone else and that she doesn’t believe in herself. Melinda won’t tell anyone what happened because she feels guilty as if it was her fault. This is shown on page 51 when Melinda says, “I want to confess everything, hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else… [but] even if I dump the memory, it will stay with me, staining me.’ Melinda feels that it isn’t even necessary to tell anyone because the memory

Throughout the novel, Melinda displays physical and mental instability by physically making herself sick, having an extreme lack of concentration as well as acts of self-destructive behavior. She proves her feelings of guilt and worthlessness by putting herself down due to her looks and personality, by not thinking she can do the same things as the other students at her school and by not telling anyone about her rape because she feels guilty, as if it was her fault. Lastly, Melinda shows symptoms of depression through her loss of interest in everyday activities, believing that everything she does is awful and she has no hope and by her intense lack of communication skills with other people. People who have experienced sexual assault similar to Melinda are more likely to fall into depression, sometimes even resulting in self-harm or suicide. In the end, Melinda overcame her emotions and dark thoughts and grew stronger from the experience. In the wise words of an unknown author, “Sometimes the strongest women are the ones who love beyond all faults, cry behind closed doors, and fight battles no one knows