Character Analysis Of Melinda In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

Everyone has hardships that they come across, but what really matters is the way they overcome them. In the book “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character Melinda Sordino does not try to face her hardships, she wants her problems to just disappear, but what makes her different is that she learns that saying nothing will just make her problems worse. The author characterized Melinda as very brave, although it took time for her to accept her problems. Melinda tries to admit what happened to her, deal with the bullies in her school, and tries to help her ex-best friend, Rachel to see with whom she is dealing with.

Since Melinda’s art project was on a tree, she thought that it would be easy. She constantly tried making the perfect tree but it would not look right. “Your imagination is paralyzed” her art teacher said (Anderson 118). Her teacher was trying to tell her that she was too focused on perfection and forgetting the true task at hand: trying to convey a message through her art. In the end, Melinda accepted her perfectly imperfect tree, along with the unfortunate experience that had happened the previous summer. “I look at my homely sketch. It doesn’t need anything. It isn’t perfect and that makes it just right”(Anderson 198). Melinda also said, “IT happened. There is no avoiding it, no forgetting….It wasn’t my fault. And I’m not going to let it kill me. I can grow” (Anderson 198). She had learned the true meaning of letting go and not focusing on what is perfect, and rather accept it and

There was no avoiding it, and no forgetting. Words that quote what Melinda Sordino had said, after the realization that most things that happen to us, are entirely unavoidable, no matter how terrible. Everybody says “had I done this...” or, “If only she would’ve done that...”, but in all reality, that wouldn’t’ve worked out, no matter what (Okay maybe it could be possible with time travel, but that always ends horrible and fumbled in the end,). In the book Speak, By Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda Sordino is a depressed girl with a complex identity, shaped out through multiple internal and external factors, and to prove this, over the next few paragraphs you will be shown multiple examples in which she has been shaped progressively previous to, and through the story, that literally broke everybody's hearts.

Melinda has been through a lot, yet will not say a word about her past. Everyone at her school thinks they have her figured out, but they may not ever find out the truth if she chooses not to speak. Eventually she begins to change with the help of several people and her own realization of what must be done. In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the author uses symbolism and irony to show the main character Melinda’s growth as a person throughout the novel.

We all have to face the positives and the negatives in life, what you make of it will shape you to who you are meant to be. In the book Speak written by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda Sordino, the protagonist of the book, is a 14 year old girl who gets severely depressed and loses the ability to “speak” after she got sexually harassed at a party. Melinda is also an outcast in her school because of people’s misunderstanding of her, but many of her great qualities made her survive through all the pain. Melinda has a strong sense of self-awareness, as she is aware of what happened to her has changed her. Secondly, her courage has helped her stand out, and fight for herself. Lastly, her inner strength has made her strong as she slowly overcomes

The relationship between Heather and Melinda in the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson was never genuine and was destined to shatter . For both of them their relationship acted as a place holder to fill voids in their lives or to serve as a distraction and once those tasks were finished both of them realized that their friendship was just a front intended to deceive themselves and others. Heather and Melinda are both freshman in high school. Heather is from Ohio and Melinda is the first person she meets at Merryweather high school in Syracuse, New York. Melinda starts the school year as an outcast because of events that took place during the summer.

Melinda spirals into a dark depression; loses her ability to speak with ease; and can express her pain only through physical acts, such as biting her lips and nails. While she becomes more passionate about art this helps her begin to see herself as a survivor rather than a victim and that the only way to face her fears is to speak out against them The story is told mostly in the present tense, over the course of Melinda's freshman year of high school. This aspect of the style helps us get caught up in the emotions and the action, as if we are there with Melinda, experiencing the same inner and outer torments. Anderson does an excellent job using sarcasm during some parts of the book to help Melinda cope with her awful circumstances while giving readers some relief from the sadness of her story.

Melinda Sordino, the antagonist and narrator of the novel Speak written by Laurie Halse Anderson, is faced with isolation because of the trauma she experiences with her rape, the fact that her rapist attends her school, and because she is shunned by all of her peers. The summer before her ninth grade year, Melinda and her friends attend a high school party. She is raped at the party by a senior named Andy Evans, and immediately after she called the police. Before the cops arrived and busted the party Melinda left, causing everyone to believe Melinda was trying to get everyone in trouble.

To begin with, drawing a tree for a whole school year doesn’t mean much, especially for an average student. But when mixed with peer pressure, boys, and issues, drawing a tree for a whole school year can make a huge difference, and mean a whole lot. Let’s take a look at how drawing a tree for a school year impacted and changed Melinda’s life.

Imagine a girl, once happy and cared about, turn into a walking zombie. This is Melinda, she is starting her first day of school sitting alone and talking to no one. Her once best friends turned against her after a huge event during the summer leaving Melinda as a victim. In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda is faced with multiple problems. These consist of high school, parents, not having friends, and the emotional scarring from her rape the previous summer. Throughout the whole story Melinda struggles to recognize herself. She shows symptoms of PTSD, which causes her to not speak out of fear. As the book moves along, Melinda gets assigned to put her identity in a tree for art. At first she is not crazy about this idea, but it begins to represent her and her growth in the long run. Towards the end of the book, Melinda has a run in with her rapist, Andy Evans. He threatens her and attempts to hurt her again, except this time Melinda works up the confidence to scream no, thanks to the wise words of David Petrakis, her lab partner. After the second incident, Melinda gets an overwhelming support from her peers. She

Anderson writes about a young girl who is struggling to speak up about a traumatic event that happened to her the summer before her freshman year. “But Melinda cannot "speak" about her pain, and, consequently, the adults in the novel tend to see her as arrogant and apathetic and get angry at her lack of participation in class, her failing grades, and her all-around

Speak has a bunch of themes and symbols. A tree is what represents the main character, Melinda. Melinda goes through a lot throughout her freshman year and learns a lot with it. A tree grows and has its moments and that is what Melinda story is life. The tree is a perfect way to represent her in the book and show how she deals with school, her family, and her own daily problems she encounters.

Coming-of-age novels focus on the transition from childhood to adulthood, with the main character going through a conflict and maturing from it. In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda Sordino a is a high school freshman transitioning from her difficult first year of high school to her second year. Through the novel, readers go through Melinda's freshman year learning about her conflicts, secrets, discoveries, and opinions of the world around her.

In the novel Speak, Melinda used to be a straight B student, no behavioral problems and a few absences but, She is a depressed person. Melinda was a good student now her grades get worse every semester and she is getting in more trouble then she usually does. Melinda’s identity in school.

Peer Pressure High school is stressful. People care about how they look and being “cool” so that they don't get bullied. Melinda in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson walked into her first year of high school with family discord and no friends (except for her pseudo-friend Heather). She was a popular girl in middle school but, after being sexually assaulted at a party and calling the police, no one would talk to her let alone be her friend.