Speak Essays

It is Not What it Seems “I have entered high school with the wrong hair, wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don’t have anyone to sit with” (Anderson 4). In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, there are many themes. Appearance versus reality is an important theme in the novel and is true in people and life, it is not always just present in books. Appearance versus reality is when something in the story seems one way but is not actually that way. Melinda Sordino has a rough life and is

believes that humans are driven by their genes to make choices based on what they need the most. The three needs of freedom, love and belonging, and power― and her lack of them― tell how Melinda in the novel Speak perceives herself as lonely, weak, and vulnerable. Melinda, the protagonist in Speak, is a girl who strongly believes that her silence is the ticket to freedom. She lies to herself about being okay with not speaking up, when deep down inside she knows that it is hurting her inside and out

Speak Journal Response This journal is in response to the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. As a coming-of-age contemporary novel, Speak discusses many sensitive issues that are still prominent even today. In this story, we explore the life of Melinda Sordino, a fourteen-year-old girl who is beginning high school right after experiencing an utterly traumatic event: rape. Melinda is left friendless, with no one to help and support her after what happened. She tries to navigate through her first

You Cannot Choose Your Family Have you ever thought about your mental, social health and your mental growth? In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, it is brought up that the people who are around the main character, Melinda, affect her mental, social health, and her mental growth. How family and friends or even the people we hardly know can make an impact on our lives in both negative and positive ways. Melinda demonstrates this throughout the entire book. “I bet they’d be divorced by now if

In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda is the main character who goes through difficult times. During the book

An Outcast’s Forest Everett Mamor once said, “We can learn a lot from trees: they're always grounded, but never stop reaching heavenward”(Mamor). In literature, trees can show many things, such as growth, change, and life. In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, trees are used to represent the main character Melinda and her struggles. Melinda is an outcast at school, shunned by her peers for calling the police on a party where she was raped. She is almost invisible at home, where her family

The novel, Speak, is about a girl named Melinda, who had an unfortunate incident befall her the summer leading into high school. Now, everyone dislikes her and Melinda spends the majority of the year hiding in the shadows trying to find a way to speak. Melinda befriends Heather, a new girl from Ohio. For a sizeable part of the book, Melinda and Heather linger with each other and therefore, the contrast between the two characters is unquestionably prominent. Heather has a bubbly, determined, and

Speak, a novel written by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a memorable story about a girl who overcomes a horrific experience, rape, and with it, injustice. Melinda, the main protagonist, has an emotional journey, and with the help of her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, survives through this excursion. As Mr. Freeman says, “‘Welcome to the journey’” (12). Mr. Freeman assists Melinda, by constantly questioning her emotional being, turning an art project into a pool of her feelings, and forcing Melinda to see the

How would you deal with being nsexually assaulted or knowing that you are hated for calling the cops when you wanted help? “Speak,” by Laurie Anderson follows Melinda, who chose not to speak after she was raped at the party last summer. During her art class, Melinda was assigned to draw a tree. Anderson uses the process of drawing a tree as a comparison to her struggle to grow stronger following her experience of being sexually assaulted. Just like a sapling vulnerable to strong winds that grows

Speak a Long Year with No Friends Laurie Halse Anderson wrote the novel Speak in 1999. The novel Speak was about a girl, named Melinda, who went to a party over the summer and she ended up calling the cops for a reason no one knew about. Once she went to school, she had no friends there, because everyone was mad that she had called the cops. In the novel, Speak, Melinda went a long time without telling her secret, and as a result was very depressed. Once she finally spoke up, her life started

Speak Essay “My head explodes with the noise of fire trucks leaving the station” (39). The book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson shows Melinda being both courageous and having lack of courage. Melinda does go through some tough stages in the book, but is still shows courage sometimes. Some of her lack of courage does come from a traumatic experience at a party before her freshman year of high school. The first way Melinda shows lack of courage is at a party during the summer going into

In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, The book follows a ninth grade student named Melinda Sordino through her first year of high school. She has trouble in school because during the summer she calls the cops on a party that she is attending. Now all her friends won't talk to her and the whole hates her for what she has done. This affects Melinda in a negative was and forces herself to stay quiet and to herself for the whole year. Readers feel that Melinda should stay her quiet self through the situations

through uncomfortable situations that teach them when to speak up and when to stay silent. In her novel Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson reflects on incidents that occurred in her life, connecting them to her story while incorporating issues that are prevalent today to advise readers to find their voice. Anderson‵s youth and own life struggles have significantly contributed to her novel. She was born on October 23, 1961 in Potsdam, New York (“Speak” 252). Anderson had always been fascinated with stories;

“I stumble from thornbush to thornbush— my mother and father who hate each other, Rachel who hates me, and a school that gags on me like I’m a hairball” (Anderson 125). In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson there are many symbols that appear. Such as Melinda having a sanctuary and a burrow. Or the author comparing Melinda to a tree and the seasons. “Slush is frozen over. People say that winter lasts forever, but it’s because they obsess over the thermometer. North in the mountains, the maple

In the young adult novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character Melinda called the police at a high school party while going into freshman year. This unfairly made her instant an outcast and loner. Because of the rape, Melinda lost friends and interest in school and activities. As her art project, Melinda is assigned to draw a tree and she realizes that this project is harder than it seems. When she first draws her tree it has no \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ emotion. It is dark and depressing

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel, Speak, Anderson tells the story of Melinda Sordino, a freshman who’s starting off her new year with no friends as her former friends turned on her. Turns out, Melinda called cops on a party, thus, Melinda has become anti-social and depressed because she’s aggravated many people. Through the use of the tree motif, Anderson reveals Melinda is a depressed tree that’s trying hard to grow. At beginning of the novel, the tree motif reveals Melinda is in a dark place as

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. Drunk, dazed and violated she called the police on the huge party she was at. She soon developed a case of post traumatic

Speak Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Selective Mutism “I know my head isn’t screwed on straight. I want to leave, confess everything, hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else. There is a beast in my gut, I can hear it scraping away at the inside of my ribs. Even if I dump the memory, it will stay with me, staining me” (Anderson 51). Melinda Sordino was the brave, resilient main character of Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel, Speak. Her transition to high school was displayed in

As the book, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, progresses from start to finish, the actions of the characters really help the reader to understand how each character acts in certain uncomfortable situations that are experienced during the book. In these situations, the characters start to show how they feel around others. It shows how they feel comfortable or completely uncomfortable around other people. Each character has their own little twist to how they feel about things that are happening in school

Life is a struggle, especially in high school. There are different groups and different types of people. School is a challenge and getting through it is hard. For some, it is harder than others. In Laurie Halse Anderson's novel, Speak, the main character is a survivor of more than just high school. Her survival is explored through the trees that she draws for her art class, which show how Melinda feels and changes throughout the book. Melinda's trees are very dark and lacking detail in the beginning