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Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

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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

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Speak Summary In “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda is starting high school and has not many friends. She feels like she doesn’t fit in at Merryweather High School. She just lost her best friend and made a new friend as well. The author wants Melinda to speak about her problems with her teachers, her parents, or anyone who is willing to help her.

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In “Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character is Melinda the setting is in Merryweather high school her situation is she is alone. Some people are Ivy, Heather, Melinda, Rachel, Mr Freeman, Mr. Neck, and Hair women. She has no friends, she is an outcast. Melinda can talk to her parents, her teachers, and her friends but she doesn't for a long time but does later.

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Melinda is not telling people about her emotions, instead she is hiding in a closet away from her fears and

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She finds her with her mom and sister and Dare, who is her friend. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. It is centered around a 13-year-old girl named Melinda Sordino. She was raped at a party over the summer, which resulted in her calling the police. She is faced with trauma and isolation throughout the school year.

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Melinda also exhibits self-loathing tendencies by avoiding mirrors and by engaging in negative self-talk. This aspect of the novel will allow for the reader to relate to how Melinda is dealing with the situation, but also to self-identify how they are dealing with their situation differently. The decline in Melinda’s functioning is quite extensive; she stops engaging in conversation and her hygiene, school work and attendance plummet. Here, the reader is shown how extensive the effects trauma can have in someone’s life and allows them to learn about it in a private setting without the pressure of speaking about what has happened to them

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This shows that Melinda was so traumatized by what she experienced it caused her to become silent. Along with that because everyone around gave off the impression that she was disliked, Melinda felt she had no one she felt safe enough around to explain what happened that night. As the school year went on, Melinda

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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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He is a senior year in high school, he is well known for getting his way with anything and his appearance or by physical matters. Andy tries to alienate Melinda at all time he sees her. Within him doing that, it exposes her altercation with him, leading her to feel more emotionally about the situation that occurred that summer night. Melinda becomes more distant than ever that she eventually starts skipping school, which opens up concerns about her academic performance. She tries not to discuss to her parents nor guidance counselors of what has happened to her, which this puts them and herself in a difficult

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The setting serves as a way to display Melinda’s emotional state, which effectively represents her feelings of loneliness and trauma after the incident at the party. In the first few pages of Speak, Melinda says, "The school looks the same as I remember it, but it feels different. Like I'm trapped in a nightmare version of Sterling High. Hallways that once smelled of Clorox and floor wax now reek of impotence and despair" (Anderson 4). This quote represents the way Melinda sees the world through her eyes.

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Everyone at Merryweather High School is questioning: Why would Melinda Sordino bust the end of summer party? When really, everyone should wonder what really happened to Melinda at that party. No one actually cares how Melinda feels or what really happened to her. The only thing all her friends care about doing is making her an outcast and a nobody her Freshman year of High School. She has no friends and she has an unstable family life, leaving her alone for her thoughts to consume her mind and any feelings she had left.

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Even new friends she makes throughout the story abandon her because of the depression given to her by the incident that she is keeping secret. Secrets, no matter how trivial or serious, can impact your life and your relationships in troubling ways when silenced. Melinda’s life has done a one hundred and eighty degree turn because of her silence.

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She does not want to be in the front, but she would not dare be a “backseat wastecase.” When she gets to school she observes the clans as they separate into groups. She describes the average peer as “Jocks” but then goes on to call people “Eurotrash” and “Future Fascists of America” and “Idiot Savants.” Melinda as the narrator sees the world very negatively. She not only views herself negatively, but she also feels the need to insult others with snide comments..

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Because Melinda and her family mainly talk like that there is little to no family bonding and Melinda is not getting the love and attention she needs in this rough time in her life. It is not just her parents she is feeling the neglect from. She also wrote to her friends through notes. Melinda has no friends this school year because of what happened over the summer at a party when she called the cops because a senior in high school, Andy Evans, brutally raped her, but everyone in school does not know that. When she finds out that her old friend, Rachel, starts to date Andy, she wants to help her.

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" Melinda is showing she needs help, and her mom could not understand any less. While Melinda shows she is not okay, no one cares enough to help her. If there was even one person who saw her whimper for help, she may have ended up in a much healthier environment, getting the help needed. But there was not, and Melinda was forced to struggle through her first year without friends and terrible grades along with a stinging memory of her being sexually

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We know that all her ex-friends and a bunch of other kids are really mad at her. She also hints that something awful has happened to her, and she wants to tell somebody about it but can't. We find out that people are mad at Melinda because they hold her responsible for an end-of-summer party being busted. Melinda is physically and verbally assaulted at school on a semi-regular basis, prompting her to keep to herself more and more. We also learn that a bad thing happened to her at the party, and that's why she called the police.

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