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Speak Cather Character Analysis

909 Words4 Pages

The novel, Speak, is about a girl named Melinda, who had an unfortunate incident befall her the summer leading into high school. Now, everyone dislikes her and Melinda spends the majority of the year hiding in the shadows trying to find a way to speak. Melinda befriends Heather, a new girl from Ohio. For a sizeable part of the book, Melinda and Heather linger with each other and therefore, the contrast between the two characters is unquestionably prominent. Heather has a bubbly, determined, and egocentric personality. These three traits that Heather displayed have an obvious relationship with each other. Initially, Heather exhibited signs of vivaciousness. Preceding the rally, Heather manifested her passion for pep rallies. “This is so exciting - a pep rally!! I made extra pompoms.” (Anderson 27) Despite pep rallies being interesting, Heather was overly enthusiastic, even taking the initiative to make more pom-poms. Even Melinda said that Heather’s enthusiasm …show more content…

Heather, being so animated, constantly perplexes Melinda as to why she is not like Heather. Additionally, it is easier for the author to describe to the character what Melinda’s personality before. Instead of having Melinda explain what she was like before which would be unusual, readers can deduce that Melinda’s previous personality by the comparisons Melinda makes to Heather’s habits. Heather’s overpowering need to succeed leads to her having a selfish demeanor. And considering Heather is so selfish, she left Melinda for “The Marthas” leaving Melinda all by herself where she realized that Heather was never truly her friend and refused to help Heather after. Clearly, like all people, there are a few traits we can learn from Heather but also a few characteristics that are better off to be limited to only

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Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

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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Commentary On Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

1973 Words | 8 Pages

Also it’s showing that everyone does not think of her the same way. Melinda is also not blend in with everyone because she is wearing different clothes. In the end of the book, Rachel starts talking to Melinda again after she finds out Andy Evans raped her. Another part in the beginning of the book Heather starts making friends with Melinda but when Heather starts using her, Melinda stands up to her. Heather is super nice to Melida and invites her to do things, but when she meets the Martha’s she slowly started to leave Melinda behind until she needed something.

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Laurie Halse Anderson Speak Analysis

241 Words | 1 Pages

Furthermore, she also has problems with her friends .A problem with Melinda 's friends is that she gets annoyed with Heather because she talks way too much. Also, most of her old friends don 't talk

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Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

483 Words | 2 Pages

Speak is a book that deals with a very dark subject. It is something that will need an open-mind and also a lot of empathy to comprehend. Our protagonist Melinda Sordino is a girl who was abandoned by her friend due to something she did at the end of the summer party. When school starts for her freshman year of high school,she an outcast, a nobody, someone who was forgotten, and a mute. The author Laurie Halse Anderson does a very magnificent job of putting the reader almost exactly as through what the protagonist experiences.

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Nineteen Minutes Character Analysis

629 Words | 3 Pages

Nineteen Minutes is Jodi Picoult’s staggering and heartbreaking story about the devastating aftermath of a small town tragedy. The story begins in the town of Sterling, New Hampshire, following the lives of the citizens on an ordinary day. That all changes when there is a shooting at Sterling High. Throughout the story, there are flashbacks to before and after the killings and the reader learns about the history of each of the characters, and how that has influenced their journey throughout the novel. We are shown the once close relationship between Josie and Peter, and also about Peter’s rocky home life where Peter is often outshined by his older brother whose death creates a rift that puts him even farther from his parents. .

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Examples Of Character Development In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

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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A Person's Identity In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

924 Words | 4 Pages

Desperate for friends, Melinda meets Heather. Heather craves popularity that Melinda can far from provide. Heather, like so many other abandons Melinda. Rachel her ex best friend became someone totally different, she even started dating Andy Evans. The boy who raped Melinda.

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Speak By Laurie Halse Arizona

848 Words | 4 Pages

Consequently, Melinda’s character is one which most teens relate to. Friendship is very important aspect of high school. In high school friendships start to change and so do people. People feel like they have to be cool and popular in high school and that's when everything starts to change for Melinda.

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Banned Book Research Paper

859 Words | 4 Pages

It 's a jaw-dropping book that will leave you wanting more as the author Laurie writes in a crisp and clear way describing the young girl Melinda’s horrific story and how it unfolds. The author 's tone gives off the vibe of a young frighted girl which I find really enhances this sad, but exhilarating story. This story taught me to always speak up for myself and to never let anyone take advantage of me. I would recommend this novel because it is extremely detailed, painting vivid pictures in your mind that really help to magnify and

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Speak Journal Response To Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

1218 Words | 5 Pages

She feels ashamed and blames herself for not being a good enough wife for Tom, just as Melinda feels guilty as though the rape was her fault, even if it really wasn’t. It is later revealed that in reality, it was actually Tom who had done all those atrocious things. He would lie to Rachel, blaming her for all the things he had done, just to make her feel guilty, weak, and worthless. Just how Andy had made Melinda feel after he raped her. With this connection, I can better understand Melinda’s character through Rachel’s in The Girl on the Train, which I read and enjoyed before I read

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Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson Analysis

734 Words | 3 Pages

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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Essay On Symbolism In The Book Speak

1197 Words | 5 Pages

Melinda, in a lot of ways, starts out like that it the book. She becomes a shell of herself from before the party happened and because no one else was there, she is lonely and doesn't have anybody to go to and to make matters even worse, she’s covered by the reputation that she has formed. In the book, Laurie Halse Anderson uses symbolism to convey exactly what Melinda can't say. In the beginning of the book, Melinda starts high school carrying her emotional wounds with her after something happens mysterious to her at a party during the summer.

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973 Words | 4 Pages

Where the Wild Things are by Maurice Sendak is an interesting children’s picture book. The main character is a little boy named Max, who has a wild imagination. He uses all five senses as well as thought and his actions to express his personality as well as how he reacts and interacts with his surroundings. Max’s id, ego and super-ego are greatly shown in this book through the way that the author has portrayed him. Not only is this book a children’s story, but it can also be perceived as a life lesson.

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937 Words | 4 Pages

“Two Kinds,” by Amy Tan, essentially revolves around the struggle of Jing Mei and her constant conflict with her mother. Throughout her life, she is forced into living a life that is not hers, but rather her mom’s vision of a perfect child; because her mother lost everything, which included her parents and kids, so her only hope was through Jing Mei. Jing Mei’s mom watches TV shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show, which gives her inspiration that her daughter should be like the people and actors. First her mom saw how on the television a three-year-old boy can name all the capitals of the states and foreign countries and would even pronounce it correctly. Her mom would quiz Jing Mei on capitals of certain places, only to discover that

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657 Words | 3 Pages

Connie does this because she needs to be reassured that she is in fact pretty. On top of this, Connie acknowledges that her beauty is “everything”(1). This statement implies that if perhaps Connie was not beautiful, she would have nothing. Furthermore, when Arnold Friend pulls up at Connie’s house, her heart begins to pound not because there is a stranger at her door, but because she is “wondering how bad she looked”(2). Even when faced with possible danger,

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