Character Analysis: Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

What would you do if the person you care the most about was suffering from depression? In Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the narrator, Melinda Sordino, suffers from depression and insecurity after being molested by a senior, Andy Evans. Over time, her emotions change positively. In her art class, she was assigned trees as her project to express emotion. In this novel, trees speak for her because they represent her life, growth, and her refusal to speak.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a coming of age themed fictional Novel based around Melinda Sordino, a freshman at Merryweather High School. During her days at school Melinda found trouble fitting in and speaking because of an incident that happened at a summer party. That incident being that she was raped by a senior named Andy Evans, aka, “IT.” At the time, Melinda panicked and ended up calling the police, which resulted in everyone despising her. Similarly to “high school drama,” the author illustrated gossip and the effects it can have on a person. To compare, when the news hit Melinda, she became silent and isolated staying away from any old friends she glanced upon. Fortunately, Melinda found new hope when a stranger asked, “I’m Heather

Melinda, the main character of speak was raped at a summer party. She calls the cops and that is where it all started. When Melinda reaches high school she is faced with all her old friends. They all hate her and want nothing to do with her, because of her calling the cops. Throughout the whole book Melinda runs into tough situations that eventually lead to her standing up for herself. Eventually, everyone finds out the truth, of why Melinda calls the cops. Although Melinda learns to stand up for herself, throughout the book she shows signs of depression such as poor performance in school, sadness and hopelessness, and withdrawal of friends and activities.

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a story written in the first person about a young girl named Melinda Sordino. The title of the book, Speak, is ironically based on the fact that Melinda chooses not to speak. The book is written in the form of a monologue in the mind of Melinda, a teenage introvert. This story depicts the story of a very miserable freshman year of high school. Although there are several people in her high school, Melinda secludes herself from them all. There are several people in her school that used to be her friend in middle school, but not anymore. Not after what she did over the summer. What she did was call the cops on an end of summer party on of her friends was throwing. Although

Speaking out is a tough task for many people that have dealt with horrible, traumatic situations. In the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character, Melinda, is one of those people who lost their voice. To be able to understand another person’s emotions, feelings, and situations is very difficult to do, especially because of how our society has formed and became a very judgmental place. Melinda Sordino starts her freshman year at Merryweather High School in Syracuse, New York, to a terrible start; she is a victim of a sexual assault and loses her confidents and voice to speak out. The more she interacts and makes new friends is how she starts to reach out and become more self-sufficient. Few weeks into school Melinda’s only

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson tells the story of Melinda Sordino, a ninth grader that attends Merryweather Highschool in Syracuse, NewYork. The author has a unique way of writing Melinda's story. She uses subtitles instead of chapters, nd goes into detail of Melinda's everyday life, by using Melinda's perspective. The author sets a depressed mood in the story because of what the main character has gone through. The central idea of the text is communication which in the beginning Melinda lacks. August before her freshman year, Melinda and her friends show up at a senior party. At the party, Melinda ends up drinking. Andy Evans takes advantage of her drunken state and rapes her. She is too drunk to defend herself. Afterward Melinda deals 911 and the police arrive at the party, but Melinda is unable to confess what happened. When the entire school knows that Melinda was the one who called the police, everyone, including her friends, stopped speaking to her. No one knew the real reason behind the 9-11 call. Throughout the school year she cuts her wrist, skips school, and fails her classes. Melinda goes through a tough time in high school. She has one friend (who later on in the book betrays her), a difficult family, and was a victim

It does not let her feels and looks so stupid. After Heather joins in the Marthas, she blows Melinda off and Melinda is outcast again. The students hit Melinda in the hall; the girls' bully her at the pep rally all shows Melinda is an outcast, she is unwelcome. Melinda is a coward. "The kids behind me laugh so loud I know they're laughing at me. I can't help myself '' (Anderson 4). Melinda is a timid person. She scareds to tell the truth of that night, thus her friends cannot understand her difficulties. About the event happen at the party, she chooses to escape her past and become silent. Melinda does not talk a lot, either at school or at home to her parents. She acts like she does not care and hid from everyone. When someone bullies her, she just ignores them and suppresses her true feelings. Melinda is also a negative person. '' It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie'' (Anderson 9). From this quotation, it is evident to see Melinda is negative. Her thinking is negative and

The book “Speak” stated many great themes, but the one that stood out to me the most was the theme of isolation. At the beginning of the book Melinda is outcasted by her peers. A good representation of how she felt is when she says “I stand in the center aisle of the auditorium, a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special, looking for someone, anyone, to sit next to”. Even at the beginning of the book, isolation is big problem, because not only is Malinda isolated but everyone else is isolated in their own groups. Detachment from society feeds Melinda’s depression to an extent were she can no longer control. Not only is she excluded at school but at home as well. The unfortunate thing is that Melinda can not even speak to her own parents.

Melinda started off in the story afraid, lonely, and out of place. “I have entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don’t have anyone to

Within “SPEAK,” Laurie Halse Anderson uses Melinda’s artwork to express Melinda. At the Beginning of the story Melinda gets a year long art project to draw a tree. At the beginning, she struggles because she is still feeling pain and depression from getting raped. But, Throughout the story, she slowly grows and comes out of her “shell,” and becomes better and better with it; So by the

Melinda is still growing and overcoming her rape. Anderson also makes allusions to literature to compare and contrast Melinda’s story to stories of other characters. To exemplify, Maya Angelou is mentioned quite frequently. In her novel I know why the caged bird sings, (p.50) she writes about how she was raped by Mr. Freeman. She can’t talk and is helped by someone with a name of a plant.

In “Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson,the main character is Melinda Sordino… The author wants Melinda to speak to her friends,family, and teachers. Thorough the book,Melinda has problems with her family. For example Her parents are always working.They don't check on Melinda when she gets home.

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, the protagonist, a freshman named Melinda must learn the key to recovery after enduring extreme trauma. She struggled to find someone to speak to, due to the school shunning her for calling the police at the party. Throughout Speak, Melinda seeks to recover from the trauma she experienced, especially the cruel actions from her ex-friends. Through symbolism, Laurie Halse Anderson displays the theme in Melinda's perspective.

“It is my first morning of high school. I have seven new notebooks, a skirt I hate, and a stomachache,” (Anderson 3). These are Melinda Sordino's first thoughts as she enters her first year of high school. Melinda dreads having to be around so many people and is shunned by other students for calling the police at a summer party. She falls into depression and decides to stay silent about what happened. As the school year goes on, Melinda knows that she will have to face her biggest fear: to speak. Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak, uses numerous archetypes and allusions to put a powerful impact on readers. These archetypes and allusions make Melinda’s struggles relatable to real life problems and situations and reflect universal

Melinda was an outcast and loner in high school who was overwhelmed, fearful, and confused with her life and her environment at school. She was always silent in class and afraid to speak in front of people. Many students today might feel the need to fit in with other people so they wouldn’t have to be looked down upon. As we take a look at Melinda’s life we’ll be able to see how she handles her daily conflicts. In the book, Speak, Melinda Sordino, an incoming freshman at Merryweather High, starts her year off with a terrible start. She’s stuck with a mean history teacher, by who she calls Mr. Neck and a whole bunch of other weird teachers like her English teacher of who she calls, Hairwomen, because of her crazy, uncombed