What Is The Difference Between Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

When thinking back to childhood memories, people often have a sense of nostalgia. The overwhelming feeling of wistfulness and comfort allows a person to look at the past in a positive light. However, sometimes people get so wrapped up in that feeling that those childhood memories turn into a way to run from problems and escape reality. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, the protagonist, Melinda, struggles in school due to a traumatic experience she went through over the summer. As school starts again, she finds herself thinking back to her childhood in order to avoid her problems. While memories allow people to have a positive perception of the past, thinking back to them frequently leads to an unclear understanding of the present. Melinda’s

She then reflects on how things used to be when she was younger. When talking about Rachel she thinks, “This was the girl who suffered through Brownies with me, who taught me how to swim, who understood my parents, who didn’t make fun of my bedroom. If there was anyone in the entire galaxy I am dying to tell what really happened, it’s Rachel” (Anderson 5). When Melinda was younger, life things were more simpler for her. She had a group of friends she could talk to and she wasn’t getting bullied at school. The author added the details of Melinda's past to convey the point that Melinda not only misses her old friends but her old lifestyle too. She misses having people and events to rely on. She also misses having a clear head. Melinda has always been a smart kid when she applies herself. In Algebra she finds herself struggling to grasp the concepts that are being taught. Math used to make her feel gifted and important: “I knew why I had to memorize my multiplication tables. [{...]} - all that was practical. Toolz eye kan yuz. It made so much sense I never thought about it. I did the work. Made honor roll.” (38) Melinda was already having a hard time dealing with the transition to high school, and math was making it

When Melinda is decorating for Christmas, she attempts to bring back the happiness that she once felt when she was young. She takes herself back to a much simpler time when she and the other people in her life were happier. “The wet wool smells like first grade, walking to school on a cold morning with my milk money jangling in the tips of my mittens. [...] Mom worked at the jewelry counter and was home after school. Dad had a nicer boss and talked all the time about buying a boat. I believed in Santa Claus.” (71) By talking about her parent's old jobs and her first-grade mittens, it’s made clear that she has fond memories from her childhood; looking back reminds her how positive her life once was, and she wants to find a way for it to feel like that again. Flashbacks like these continue to happen as the story progresses and she finds herself thinking about the fun trips she and her family used to go on. “One time when I was little, my parents took me to an orchard. Daddy set me high in an apple tree. It was like falling up into storybook, yummy and red and leaf and the branch not shaking a bit. {...} The sun warmed my hair, and a wind pushed my mother into my father’s arms, and all the apple-picking parents and children smiled for a long, long minute.” (66) She is using her memories and flashbacks as an escape from her