The Second Marking Period In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

The second marking period in "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson was a crucial time for Melinda as she faced significant events that profoundly influenced her emotions and interactions with others, as well as her growing urge to speak up. To begin, in the chapter “First Amendment”, Mr. Neck, the social studies teacher decides to start a debate about immigration. He starts to talk about how America should have closed the borders in the 1900s, blaming immigrants for his son’s inability to get a job, and generally being xenophobic overall. Most students disagreed but didn’t have the courage to speak up, except for David Petrakis. David challenges Mr. Neck’s views and calls the tone of the lesson racist and intolerant. Mr. Neck ends up getting mad

This chapter ends with David being allowed to record what goes on in class practically beating Mr. Neck, and Melinda calls David her hero. Melinda began to feel inspired by what David had done as his act of standing up to Mr. Neck reminded Melinda of her struggle of not being able to speak up about what happened to her. David showed her that speaking up can change things and that people will get what they deserve. Moreover, the chapter “Wishbone” shows that Melinda feels stuck or trapped in the same place. She has so much more to her than she lets on, but it’s all hidden inside because she can’t get herself to speak, it also reveals that she is in a lot of pain. In this chapter, Melinda decides to bring the bones of the turkey that she dug up to art class to make a memorial, after her Thanksgiving evening went horribly wrong. Mr. Freeman, her art teacher, encourages her to work on this project and so she makes this scarily eye-catching piece. She puts a Barbie head on top of the bony carcass of the turkey, makes knives look like legs, and puts tape over Barbie’s mouth. Mr. Freeman analyzes Melinda’s piece and notices that there may be something going on in her