The book Speak is a book written by Laurie Halse Anderson, it is about a young girl named Melinda Sordino and is about a very serious and all too common issue: rape and depression. Rape is a serious problem, it can completely destroy a person, making them never the same again. Depression is always an uphill battle and is even worse when your friends turn their back on you and your family does not notice something is seriously wrong with you. Melinda was a young girl enjoying life until an older boy named Andy Evans took advantage of his size and raped her. Melinda shows signs of depression early, an example is when she does not realize she has not showered in days or washed her hair. She has sores on her lips from chewing on them. Depression is never easy …show more content…
All of her friends turned their back on Melinda, made fun of her, made her life a living hell. Her parent did not notice that her friends had turned their back on her until late into the school year and it is almost over. Her parents did not do their job in taking care of their baby girl because they were tired from work and did not have a healthy relationship themself. Melinda got stuck in a cycle because of what Andy did to her. She was battling depression basically alone, she had one girl who talked to her out of everybody in her school willingly Heather. Heather had moved from Ohio and did not know anything about Melinda like her calling the cops, and nobody talking to her anymore. Heather was not Melinda’s true friend in the end all she did was use Melinda toward the end of their friendship. The first example of Heather not being a true friend is when she told Melinda she is no longer he friend because of her depression, friends are supposed to help fight depression not help depression fight you. “When you get through this life sucks phase, I’m sure lots of people will want to be