The Transformation Of Melinda In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

In the book, “speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character, Melinda, faces small differences in how she reacts around other people and how she decides to interact with others. In some ways, Melinda only changed internally and/or mentally. She chose to be more open at the end than in the beginning because of having come to terms with what had happened to her, and because of her reminding herself it wasn’t her fault.

At the beginning of “speak”, main character Melinda is seen as very shy and quiet; an introverted person who doesn’t really care about school and her grades. After reading what she was like the year before,Melinda, who used to be a teenager with friends who cared about her and vice versa, changed drastically. After reading up until the first and second marking period, we can begin to realize what Melinda did to cause her schoolmates to resent her. The summer before the school year began, Melinda was invited to a party which her friends would attend as well. During the party, a traumatic event occurs, which isn’t

This could be because of the lack of character development she has. However Melinda matured the way she thinks, not much physically. From the beginning of the book to the end, you can tell that Melinda does come out of her shell, and begins to interact with the people around her more. At pages 109-110, Melinda begins to communicate with David Petrakis using a notebook. They write stuff down and draw things back and forth until the bell rings. Even if they didn’t physically talk at this moment, this was a big deal to her, also because she thought David might have had a crush on her. In other parts of the book, like in page 145-146, Melinda becomes more social with Ivy, and works up the courage to share some of her Life Savers candy. On page 164-165, she begins to think about the night of the party. She begins to question what even happened and what had happened to