Examples Of Insecurity In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

We all have opportunities to display courage in our life, but if we actually do is our decision. Courage is being able to do what is right even if it can be hard. In the book Speak by Laurie Halle Anderson I found three different examples of courage. In this book Melinda Sordino, David Petrakis and Melinda, again all show courage.

In the Novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the subject of violence occurs as an important topic for the main character Melinda Sordino. In the book many examples of violence are exemplified, for instance when Melinda is at the party with Andy Evans, the looks she gets from the boy her caused her the most violence and when she defends herself using violence because of what is being done to her. In life sometimes its hard to chose doing the right thing because of what you can lose.

In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Anderson uses irony to exaggerate Melinda's loss in friendship. After Heather told Melinda she doesn’t want to be friends with her anymore, she ended up giving Melinda a thank you card for understanding that Heather does not want to be friends with Melinda anymore and returned her friendship necklace. At first, Melinda thought the card was from David but, "The card has a picture of two cutesy teddy bears sharing a pot of honey. I open it. 'Thanks for understanding. You're the sweetest!' It is signed with a purple pen. 'Good Luck!!! -Heather’ ” (Anderson 110). The irony is used when Heather is thanking Melinda for “understanding” that Heather does not want to be friends with Melinda anymore. Heather

Again, throughout the whole book, Melinda has this odd feeling, she thinks that nobody likes her and is always down on herself. An example from the book that shows this behavior is at the beginning of the book, her first day of high school. "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 outcast." (Anderson 4) As soon as she enters high school she doubts herself. It's almost as that she believes that since she has entered with the wrong clothes, the wrong hair, and nobody to sit with, that she will never fit in. This shows a sign of hopelessness, she is doubting herself to much. Another example of when Melinda shows sadness and hopelessness is when she hears about Rachelles Halloween party she is throwing. She says, "I knew I wouldn't get an invitation. I would be lucky to get an invitation to my own funeral." (Anderson 41) This shows Melinda again, being

Melinda isn't speaking to anyone, and no one will talk to her, except the new girl, Heather, who moved from the state of Ohio. Realistically, Heather being the new girl just wants to make friends. Heather doesn't know what is really going on with Melinda because she just moved to town. Heather has no idea what happened the night when Melinda called the police, which busted a summer party. In fact, no one knows, except for Melinda, what happened to her at the party? She is convinced that because she is a victim, no one understands her. The whole world, including her world, is out to get her and so it is best for her to remain silent.

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

Amy and the main character from “Carapace” both feel burdened to satisfy the expectations of their country by changing their personality and adapting to situations in specific ways. Such behavior is seen when Amy complies to Robert and the American culture by refusing to eat her favorite delicacy, fish cheeks, only because the dish is not the traditional Thanksgiving spread of her society, the United States. Amy is also stressed to conform by committing to the “dress code” of her society as told by her mother, “You want to be same as American girl on the outside.”(Tan 2) and her wish, “I prayed for...a slim new American nose” (Tan 1).

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

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

During this time in the novel, Melinda feels like she can’t speak for herself and can’t tell people what really happened and why she had called the cops at the party. She feels that if she tells anyone that they would say that she’s just trying to get attention. Those examples were just a few times out of the many that they changed the

Isolation can result in a lowered self-esteem. In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the reader can see the impact that isolation has on the main character, Melinda. Melinda sees herself as a person with "Two muddy-circle eyes under black-dash eyebrows, piggy-nose nostrils and a chewed-up horror of a mouth" (Anderson 17). In this passage, we see that Melinda feels degraded just because she has no friends. Teens may also isolate themselves because of their body image. "For some, the desire to look as perfect as these models can become

Every single person has a secret or an experience that they prefer not to talk about. In this case, Melinda Sordino suffers with the traumatic memory of rape. Within the novel, Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Sordino’s entire life changes as Andy Evans takes advantage of her innocence by raping her during a party in August. As a result, Sordino’s trauma causes the alteration of her personality and perspective of the world. Sordino ventures throughout the story to rediscover herself as a person and faces several obstacles such as family troubles, disrespectful peers, and the person who has inflicted her with the most mental agony she can possibly withstand.

Throughout this fragment of Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson portrays Melinda with an introvertive voice. Melinda is having a hard time warming up to her new high school. The excerpt starts off with Melinda trying to find a place to sit in the lunchroom. “There’s that new girl, Heather, reading by the window. I could sit across from her. Or I could crawl behind a trash can.” (Paragraph 2) Melinda would rarther hide and go unnoticed than interact with other students. This quote shows us that she’s willing to take great measures to avoid being observed. Another example of diction was when Melinda was seen without a hallway pass by Mr. Neck, and when she was asked to explain herself, she just thinks to herself: “It is easier to not say anything… Nobody

When she starts school that fall, no one talks to her about what happened and Melinda ends up staying quiet. She tries to act like the event never happened and this has a very bad impact on her relationships at school. On her first day, it can clearly be seen that she is a social outcast. No one talks to her as they blame her for being the reason the party got busted. This further pushes Melinda into silence, eventually leading her into depression.

The diction used in this quote strongly assists in making the voice sound like a teen girl’s. By using slang words such as "geek" and "hip," the author fabricates the idea that the narrator is a young person, educated but not highly sophisticated. Additionally, the author successfully reveals several personality traits of the narrator without coming right out and stating it. The quote portrays the narrator, Melinda, as slightly shallow or vain, concerned with the "acceptable fashion" and scared to do something she thinks could be interpreted as uncool. The author also shows that Melinda isn't very sociable or good at making friends. She is all alone, looking for either "a friendly face or an inconspicuous corner," indicating that if there isn't