The novel “Speak”, written by Laurie Halse Anderson first published in the year 1999, deals with Melinda, an “outcast” (p. 4), who experiences her first year of high school while simultaneously trying to cope with the aftermath of sexual abuse during a party, which consists mainly of her not being able to speak. Since we are all aware of the fact that Melinda’s traumatic event led to a certain degree of dehumanization for her, the following words intend to focus on and elaborate Melinda’s struggle in school; how she views her teachers, her marks, her periods and to some degree also her peers and classmates. Starting right at the beginning Melinda enters her high school life with a healthy amount of prejudice. Probably having heard or …show more content…
She uses sarcasm as a way to process uncomfortable situations and does so in a self-destructing manner. She lost a part of herself in the process, the most important part to deal with her post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): verbal communication. For people she interacts with or lacks of interaction with it seems like she is purposely deciding not to talk. As if it was her choice. But there is more to it. Something the mere eye cannot capture. I could go on and write a whole paragraph on PTSD and all the other accompanying side effects but in the end we would understand just as much. Or we would just have to accept this person’s reality individually and not how we want to create another person’s reality for ourselves.
With this in mind I would like to ultimately thank Laurie Halse Anderson as she did a wonderful job in portraying a young girl’s struggles. I would like to assume that rape is a more common occurrence for teenage girls than most people might think. It is just not talked about and therefore considered controversial. Still, this book captures the importance of raising awareness in a world with many issues. Let’s hope we can erase these injustices one