ipl-logo

Speak Mouth Motif: Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

570 Words3 Pages

Jaidyn McClain

Baranek

English Honors

February 22, 2023

“Speak” Mouth Motif

“It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it.” (Anderson 9) says Melinda. “Speak” a realistic fiction novel by Laurie Halse Anderson is about 14-year-old freshman Melinda Sordino, who had a traumatizing experience over the summer and is struggling to express herself. Melinda is alone and is battling her mental health. “Speak” is the story of how Melinda went from a disturbed, almost-mute girl, to finally finding her voice.

Anderson uses the motif of a mouth throughout the novel to track Melindas personal growth throughout the year. At the start of her year Melinda sees most things as a waste and her depression is evident in the motifs. Like when Melinda runs into a teacher and talks about her reason for staying silent, “All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say.” (Anderson 9) Melindas hopelessness is felt in this quote as she feels that no one cares. Melindas hopelessness continues in her self-esteem, while looking in a mirror Melinda thinks, “and a chewed up …show more content…

Like when Melinda explains how hard it is for her to speak, “It is getting harder to talk. My throat is always sore, my lips raw. When I wake up in the morning my jaws are clenched so tight I have a headache.” (Anderson 50) Near the beginning and middle of the novel Melindas is mostly fixated on her lips and her inability to talk as we can see in this quote. Melinda often mentions how she hates the way her mouth looks, like when she is driving with Heather and her mom, “[I] hide my mouth with my fingers. The scabs on my lips look especially gross in that little rectangle mirror.” (Anderson 82) At this point in the book Melinda is still stuck being unconfident and silent. Her mental health hasn’t gotten better, and she is

Show More
Related
736 Words | 3 Pages

Furthermore, Melinda had admitted that she could “[feel] the wind blow and hear the mockingbird whistling on the way back to her nest. But when [she tries] to carve it, it looks like a dead tree, toothpicks, a child’s drawing. [She cannot] bring it to life” (78). She wistfully imagines confessing her distress, but she remains reluctant and retreats from transitioning into speaking again. There are many moments within the novel where Anderson uses symbolism to illustrate Melinda's desire to refurbish her life as this one, but it is hard for Melinda to do so without the choice of acknowledging what happened.

Read More
404 Words | 2 Pages

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson shows us the life of a young teenager with her mouth tied shut. The name of this teenager is Melinda Sordino, Melinda has grown significantly from the beginning to the end of Speak. Throughout all of this there have been three main symbols, a mirror, trees, and an old janitor's closet. These symbols expressed the importance of self-esteem, overcoming obstacles, and sanctuary.

Read More
419 Words | 2 Pages

Names are an important part of most books. Speak is no exception. The main character gives names to certain people giving the reader a different view on them. Not only Melinda give names to characters so does the author, Laurie Halse Anderson Name represents who they are as characters. There are many names used in the story.

Read More
212 Words | 1 Pages

Speak is a young adult novel written by Laurie Halse Anderson that tells the story of young Melinda Scordio who has to endure the aftermath of her rape, while also adapting to the changes it has brought upon her life. Melinda has just started high school, but due to past events that occurred last summer, she is left as an empty shell with her voice snatched away and little hopes of returning. Melinda has remained silent and finds herself lost in the chaos of it all. She is able to find her sanctuary, not only a place, but something with much more meaning. Throughout the book, Melinda struggles with opening herself up to people and being able to tell her story.

Read More
1125 Words | 5 Pages

This causes her to be unable to speak as normal and express herself only through self physical acts of hurting herself. However, through her pain, she begins to grow from a victim to a survivor and understands that the only way to go against evil is to speak out against it. Melinda in Speak is a high school freshman who is raped by Andy Evans who is a senior in high school. Due to him raping her she loses her ability to speak normally and say what she feels and how she feels. Melinda gains her confidence to speak in public freely again by the end of the story.

Read More
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).

Read More
164 Words | 1 Pages

Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say.” (9) Melinda believes that no one cares about how she feels. She feels that everyone looks past her. She wants to

Read More
1141 Words | 5 Pages

Her grades weren’t helping her either, She was consistently getting made fun of being talked about and abandoned by everyone because they didn't know the truth due to Melinda not speaking up for herself. The author also symbolizes mirrors in the book because Melinda took the mirror down from her room due to herself not being able to recognize herself anymore, she was a whole new person she never knew. Melinda also took a maya angelou poster and covered her mirror in her safe place. Maya Angelou was an author who was a selective mute and there is a connection between her and Melinda as they both did not speak, Melinda for the first 3 quarters of school was very quiet and to herself. Melinda heavily avoided Andy Evans the guy who

Read More
1162 Words | 5 Pages

She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack of intimate friends. Books became her friends and there was one for every mood.” This showed her love for books, but also acknowledged her loneliness. In Speak, Melinda is traumatized from being taken advantage of and raped by an older boy named Andy Evans. She had called the police at the party they were at, and ever since then has been seen as an outcast.

Read More
516 Words | 3 Pages

It has been statistically proven that humans lose their patience with others when their partner, family, or friends’ choose to excessively nag or ask rhetorical questions in order to share their insight or wisdom on an individual’s life. Eyes rolling, excessive sighs, and lip smacking may result as a direct consequence in response to these pests. Wanda Coleman, a renowned Black woman poet who was born in the 1940s and grew up during the civil rights movement, expresses these ideas in “Wanda Why Aren’t You Dead” by listing out the various questions that she was asked throughout her

Read More
483 Words | 2 Pages

Speak Essay Depression can drown somebody, not allowing them a way to escape. It can be blinding, not allowing you to find a way out. In the book Speak, by Lourie Halse Anderson, Melinda shows many signs of depression after undergoing trauma and does not realize it until she is in too deep. I believe Melinda is depressed due to her loss of interest in activities, feeling as if her life doesn’t matter, and isolating herself from other people.

Read More
1924 Words | 8 Pages

In the novel Ellen’s new mama,Nadine, agreed to letting Scarletta stay with them for a while. Ellen became very excited when heard this and this was very important for her since she missed her so much. This quote shows a sense of imagery and can be seen through her voice. Ellen can create a feeling throughout the audience on how she is feeling by giving an example. Relating back to the audience can let the reader better understand the book and the emotions the characters are feeling.

Read More
646 Words | 3 Pages

Speak is a book written about the internal and external conflicts that protagonist, Melinda faces after being raped by Andy Evans (“IT”) and hated by her peers for ruining an end-of-summer party. This has traumatized Melinda and she is too afraid to speak up. Anderson enhances the big theme of sadness and depression through similes, metaphors,

Read More
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.

Read More
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.

Read More

More about Speak Mouth Motif: Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

Related Topics

Open Document