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Personal reflection on emotional intelligence
About emotional intelligence
About emotional intelligence
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Personal reflection on emotional intelligence
About emotional intelligence
About emotional intelligence
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson should be mandatory reading for 8th graders due to its take on how trauma can affect the lives of its survivors. Through completed writing, the National Book Award finalist and Golden Kite Award winner, Laurie Anderson captures the thoughts of Melinda Sordino. After she gets raped and has to deal with a misunderstanding that leaves her silent and outcast. This short book of 224 pages is mostly written in short statements. From casual thoughts such as, “I zone out,” to ones with impact like, “Why go to school.”
Speak, the story of Melinda Sordino, the girl without a voice. In speak the main protagonist, Melinda, has to go through high school with almost everyone in her school hating her because of a misunderstanding, she called the police on a summer party because she was sexually assaulted but never had the courage to say anything. Throughout the book the writer, Laurie Anderson uses trees to symbolize changes in Melinda’s life like (insert thing here), how Melinda needs to remove the “dead branches” from her life so she can move on and grow from her experiences, and how Melinda was finally able to “cut the dead branches” from her life and learn to speak up for herself. A good example of Melinda’s transformation is shown in this next quote. “He’s
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.
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
It is estimated that 1 in 6 women will be a victim of attempted or completed rape, however, only 16-40% of all rape is reported. In the realistic-fiction novel, Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, 14-year-old Melinda becomes a victim of rape at a summer party and begins to hide from herself to avoid the past. Within the novel Anderson uses the mirror as a motif to show Melinda’s growth from hiding from herself to defending herself. After Melinda’s assault, she calls the police while watching herself in the reflection of a window. “I saw my face in the window over the kitchen sink and no words came out of my mouth” (Anderson 136).
The main character of the novel Speak, Melinda, struggles to come to terms with her sexual assault and the effects it has had on her. Throughout the book, she ignores the conflicts her experience has caused and attempts to get away from it. In the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda’s avoidance of conflict and the ramifications it has on her life reinforces the message that ignoring your problems will only drag out hardships. The most obvious way that Melinda’s evasion of conflicts can be seen is with her friends.
For example, on page one-hundred and twenty-four of the novel, Melinda states, “I have to stay away from the closet, go to all my classes. I will make myself normal. Forget the rest of it.” This shows that Melinda has not been good in school and been interacting with
In this current generation depression is becoming more and more prevalent in impressionable teenagers. This issue of depression is also an important theme in the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson in which the main character Melinda tries to overcome after a traumatic summer party. Throughout the novel there are many displays and signs of Melinda's depression. Of these signs the three most noticeable include her low self-esteem which is seen in every one of her decisions, habits of isolation/social withdrawal at school and even at home, and self harm. She unveils these signs of depression with every test and challenge she faces.
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.
Speak Melinda’s life changes causing a dramatic turn for the worst. This case causes trauma and her future reflects from it. Melinda is faced with a devastating series of events because of Andy Evans, her parents, and her friends. Melinda does not understand how to tell anyone what truly happened and she is afraid people will know her as “The girl who called the cops”. In the book, it says, “The girl pokes me harder.
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
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).
In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson she is trying to show about strength is that people grow and can get stronger throughout time and experience. At first in the story Melinda was a very shy and let people step all over her. For example on page 8 “ Thwap! A lump of potatoes and gravy hits me square in the center of my chest. All conversation stops as the entire lunchroom gawks, my face is burning in their retinas.”
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.
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.