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Written Explanation Of Individual Response To Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

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Written Explanation of Individual Response for Speak It is common in today’s world to feel ashamed of what has happened to you whether it is sexually or mentally. Many people turn to depression, self harm, or suicide because they are afraid to speak up about what has happened to them, feeling like no one will believe their story. This is how Melinda feels. The theme of the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is communication against silence. This is a key theme, as the book itself is called Speak. Melinda fails to speak out about her rape at the end of the previous summer. People hate her for calling the police at this party. Had they known of what happened that night, people might be treating her differently. If Melinda had communicated with people instead of staying silent about this problem, she could get the help that she needed. Eventually, Mel finds her voice in many things, such as art. By the end of the book, she is able to see that this incident wasn’t her fault. When Andy tries to repeat his actions, she is much stronger and is able to see that what he …show more content…

Melinda may feel trapped figuratively in her own grave, buried with the weight of her secret. She feels like she is not able to communicate with anyone about what had happened. Melinda spends most of her time in the janitor’s closet, her grave. In here she paints, thinks about what happened to her, and wonders if it is her fault. Melinda, along with many other people, choose to keep their abuse to themselves, as they feel know one will believe them. This is how Melinda feels, as she thinks that people will think it is an excuse for calling the police the night of the party. The poem “Silence” by Thomas Hood relates to the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson because it shows how lonely Melinda feels under all of the stress of her

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Melinda’s character develops tremendously over the course of the book. In the beginning of the book, she says, “ I have entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don’t have anyone to sit with. I am an outcast” (Anderson, 4). At the start, Melinda had lost all of her friends after she busted a party last summer, but nobody knows that a senior boy at the party raped her.

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The book Speak is a book written by Laurie Halse Anderson, it is about a young girl named Melinda Sordino and is about a very serious and all too common issue: rape and depression. Rape is a serious problem, it can completely destroy a person, making them never the same again. Depression is always an uphill battle and is even worse when your friends turn their back on you and your family does not notice something is seriously wrong with you. Melinda was a young girl enjoying life until an older boy named Andy Evans took advantage of his size and raped her.

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She can't discuss what happened at the party in the first quarter because, she isn’t accepting what happened at the party. Melinda uses the closet to hide away from her fears: “The closet is abandoned--it has no purpose, no name. It is the perfect place for me.” (pg. 26). Melinda is saying that this “no purpose” closet with “no name” depicts herself because, similar to the closet she is alone and ignored.

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On a seemingly emotional high after attending a high school party as a rising freshman, Melinda’s world got turned upside down when she was taken advantage of by a popular senior jock. Along with the pain of the trauma itself, Melinda was reminded of her terrible ordeal each time she came in contact with Andy: “I want to throw up and I can smell him and I run and he remembers and he knows. He whispers in my ear” (Anderson 86). When Andy encroached on her sanctuary in the art room and destroyed her work, Melinda shut down and locked herself in her closet, where she “stuffed [her] mouth with old fabric and screamed until there were no sounds left under [her] skin” (Anderson 162). While interactions with others could incite her anxiety and feelings of depression, continued encounters with her rapist further aggravated Melinda.

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Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak is a novel that makes a definite argument. In short, the novel argues that if you are a victim of a sexual assault, you will need to speak about it in order for yourself to grow and heal. As you probably know, there are lots of difficult reasons why victims of sexual assault might have a hard time speaking up about what's happened to them. Like Melinda Sordino, main character of Speak, they might be ashamed or afraid of what will happen if they tell. Speak is the story of Melinda Sordino, a high school freshman.

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We can all agree that everybody has had or has physcological effects in their high school lives. In the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson the main character Melinda was raped by Andy Evans which resulted in many emotional and physical impacts. As a result of being raped, Melinda encountered psychological effects of being anti-social and self blaming. She also developed self-destructive effects such as her cutting her wrist. After being raped, Melinda became very anti-social.

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Samantha Dabros Mr. Chomin 9th grade Language Arts 17 January 2023 Speak The book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is about a girl named Melinda who goes to Merryweather High School. The theme of this book is finding your voice because Melinda was assaulted before she even went to high school. And the way it was written, it was meant to send that message. All books are meant to have a message but this seems to want that message to get across to people.

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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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Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say.” (9) Melinda believes that no one cares about how she feels. She feels that everyone looks past her. She wants to

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Though people try to hide it, it will show one way or another. Trying to cope with a traumatizing and scarring experience seems nearly impossible because people are afraid of judgement and of others not understanding. They are afraid of losing people because they have a different perspective and see depression in a different way. People’s actions and words make a big impact on others. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s book Speak, the main character struggles to cope with something that no teenager should have to cope with.

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Klaire Kulas Speak Essay A person 's identity can be affected by many things, loss, pain, and the people around them. These things could not be more evident, in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Melinda is a 15 year old girl who has experienced a series of traumatizing events, that cause her to change completely as a person. The summer before her freshman year she was raped.

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Another element in this novel is Melinda’s inner conflict, man vs. self. What Melinda has been through greatly affected her everyday life. She struggles with depression, dislikes her appearance, and feels ashamed of herself for something that isn 't her fault: “I want to confess everything, hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else...even if I dump the memory, it will stay with me, staining me” (Anderson 51). Andy Evans, the senior who raped her, made her feel worthless. This situation is much like the one in the novel The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.

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Isolation is when one is set apart from others and is virtually alone. In Laurie Anderson’s Speak, the protagonist, Melinda, isolates herself and is further isolated from others. Isolation can be seen through three symbols: lips, mirrors and a closet. Melinda thinks no one cares about what she has to say, resulting in silence. After the incident in the summer, Melinda cannot bare to look at herself.

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500 Words | 2 Pages

The novel “Speak” written by Laurie Halse Anderson in my opinion is an excellent choice to read. The book it self as won several awards including being a finalist in the Nation Book Award. Speak was originally published in the year of 1999 and now in the present time, it is the 15th anniversary and yet it is still stocked up on book selves. When you first open the book you see the author and her picture, but then as you turn the page you see poems and a letter written off by the author.

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The novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is about a girl named Melinda, who shows signs of depression throughout the story. She has no friends and is hated by people she doesn’t even know. This is because she called the cops at a party, where she was raped. Anderson includes literary elements to show how Melinda is depressed. Throughout the novel, she uses many different literary elements to show Melinda’s conflict.

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