The Importance Of Family Relationships In Speak

Family relationships are important because you need to communicate with each other, show each other love and talk about personal things if needed. A family relationship can hurt a person by not showing support, not encouraging them and not taking care of that person. A family is there to show you who you are and to make you a better person. Emotional support is when you are always hurt or sad, a family member needs to be there to help you through that time. A person’s social life would be talking to someone who you adore and trust. Physical growth is when you are growing and you are learning new things about yourself. In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda is the main character who goes through difficult times.

During the book

I hold it to Andy Evans’s neck. He freezes. I push just hard enough to raise one drop of blood. He raises his arms over his head. My hand quivers. I want to insert the glass all the way through his throat, I want to hear him scream. I look up. I see the stubble on his chin, a fleck of white in the corner of his mouth. His lips are paralyzed. He cannot speak. That’s good enough” (Anderson 195). Melinda speaks the truth about what happened the night of the party. Rachel/Rachelle did not believe what Melinda had just told her. Rachel/Rachelle thought Melinda was trying to get attention, but in reality Melinda was not. A few days later Rachel/Rachelle figured it out why Melinda called the cops at the party, Rachel/Rachelle now believes Melinda was raped at the party. “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. Sometimes my mouth relaxes around Heather, if we’re alone. Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze. What is wrong with me? It’s like I have some kind of spastic laryngitis. I know my head isn’t screwed on straight. I want to leave, transfer, warp myself to another galaxy. I want to confess everything, hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else. There is a beast in my gut, I can hear it scraping away at the inside of my ribs. Even if I dump the memory, it will