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Use Of The Mouth Motif In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

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"No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.” Maya Angelou. In Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson this is shown through, Melinda Sordino, a freshman, starts high school with no friends because she called the police at a summer party after being raped. As she struggles through her first year of high school, she realizes that in order to grow, she must find her voice, which she eventually does, and things start to look better for her. Anderson uses the mouth as a motif to trace Melinda’s personal growth throughout the book from depressed and not speaking to coming out of her depression and speaking again. At the outset of Speak, the author uses the mouth motif to show Melinda's depression and refusal to speak. For example, after being covered by potatoes in the cafeteria, and being stopped by Mr. Neck when …show more content…

Anderson utilizes the mouth motif to show Melindas grown when she says, “I’m on a roll. I’m rocking. I don’t know what it is; standing up to Heather, planting marigold seeds, or maybe the look on Mom’s face when I asked if she would let me redecorate my room.” (Anderson 180). Melinda expressing that she is “on a roll” and planting seeds shows how she is coming out of her depression. Additionally, Melinda standing up to Heather and asking her mom to redecorate shows how she is speaking up and finding her voice. Finally, the motif is shown again when Melinda is stuck in the closet with Andy and she says, “No. A sound explodes from me. “NNNOOO!!!” (Anderson 194). This finally shows how much Melinda has grown and how much she has found her voice. Melinda's growth is demonstrated through her finally being able to say no to Andy unlike the first time, and Melinda saying no shows how she was able to find her voice. Melinda's growth and escape from depression is expressed at the end of the

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Melinda`s behavior reflcets the theme because she has come to the realization that keeping her feelings bottled up will not

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For instance, she tells rachel about what happened at the party. Once Melinda learns that Andy and Rachel are attending prom together, she needed to tell Rachel about what Andy did. “I was stupid and drunk and I didn’t know what was happening and then he hurt-I scribbled that out-raped me” (183). Melinda finally telling someone about what happened is a perfect example of her recovery. At the beginning of the novel, she could not even talk to her friends.

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Furthermore, Melinda had admitted that she could “[feel] the wind blow and hear the mockingbird whistling on the way back to her nest. But when [she tries] to carve it, it looks like a dead tree, toothpicks, a child’s drawing. [She cannot] bring it to life” (78). She wistfully imagines confessing her distress, but she remains reluctant and retreats from transitioning into speaking again. There are many moments within the novel where Anderson uses symbolism to illustrate Melinda's desire to refurbish her life as this one, but it is hard for Melinda to do so without the choice of acknowledging what happened.

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So she yells and fights back when Andy tries to abuse her: “No. A sound explodes out of me. NNNOOO!!!” (pg 194). This shows that Melinda is finally speaking this shows that her closet is not safe from what happened to her and that she can never hide from her trauma.

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Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson shows us the life of a young teenager with her mouth tied shut. The name of this teenager is Melinda Sordino, Melinda has grown significantly from the beginning to the end of Speak. Throughout all of this there have been three main symbols, a mirror, trees, and an old janitor's closet. These symbols expressed the importance of self-esteem, overcoming obstacles, and sanctuary.

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Melinda goes into a downward spiral; with her forms of expressing and coping with depression becoming progressively

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No running away, or flying, or burying, or hiding. ” It is without a doubt that this is a dynamic character because it clearly identifies Melinda’s development. Rather than being a static character, she is able to overcome her anxiety, PTSD, and fear in order to accept the truth of what happened to her. Throughout the story, she is presented as an extremely silent person.

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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).

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Thus, as a results for these motivation, Melinda breaks out from her silence and takes her revenge from the villain by destroying his reputation and makes him unable to

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The new Melinda sees that she needs to say something and she works up the courage to help her once-friend. This really shows Melinda development as a person. She is overcoming her pain and

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Melinda describes her trigger as “A scream starts in my gut- I can feel the cut, smell the dirt, leaves in my hair” (81). When David cuts open the frog in biology class, Melinda freezes and begins replaying the assault in her head. Similarly, Melinda freezes and vomits when Andy gets close enough for her to smell him since his scent reminds her of the terror she felt during the attack. Melinda experiences panic attacks and feels like she is reliving the experience, making it difficult for her to function in day-to-day life. Additionally, Melinda develops mute symptoms and loses her capacity to communicate clearly.

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By gaining new allies and friends, finding a passion in art, and being able to express herself and confide in people, she becomes stronger. With this, the tone develops and changes while it slowly adapts when Melinda again talks about her closet saying, “I hang out in my refurbished closet. It is shaping up nicely… Maya Angelou’s picture watches me while I sweep and mop the floor, while I scrub the shelves, while I chase the spiders out of the corners. I do a little bit of work everyday…

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Speak is a book written about the internal and external conflicts that protagonist, Melinda faces after being raped by Andy Evans (“IT”) and hated by her peers for ruining an end-of-summer party. This has traumatized Melinda and she is too afraid to speak up. Anderson enhances the big theme of sadness and depression through similes, metaphors,

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Heather, being so animated, constantly perplexes Melinda as to why she is not like Heather. Additionally, it is easier for the author to describe to the character what Melinda’s personality before. Instead of having Melinda explain what she was like before which would be unusual, readers can deduce that Melinda’s previous personality by the comparisons Melinda makes to Heather’s habits. Heather’s overpowering need to succeed leads to her having a selfish demeanor.

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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.

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