I Am An Outcast Analysis

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

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

Over the years, Melinda has developed trust issues, and Mr. Freeman is the first to help her change. He is always there for her to offer a hand or advice in any way she may need. "You're a good kid. I think you have a lot to say. I'd like to hear it" (Anderson 123). For the first time, Melinda receives positive reinforcement from someone. Melinda truly develops a confidential and impactful relationship with Mr. Freeman that changes her perspective on different situations. Anderson reiterates the message in this portion of the book by demonstrating once again that by being open and discussing life with others it can help one learn more from a different perspective. “I guess I'll answer if [David] calls. But if he touches me I'll explode, so a date is out of the question. No touching.” (Anderson 159) This shows a remarkable change in her character, as she becomes a dynamic character that undergoes a vital change. She finally accepts being open to society even though she is restrained to physically do anything because of her past. These baby steps portray a crucial development in Melinda as a person. The critical part of this is that

When she was packing all her pictures to take out of her room in the cleaning closet, she hears the door open and it was Andy. He tried to attack her again for telling Rachel that he raped her. The LaCrosse team heard the noise of Melinda fighting for her protection. They opened the door and caught Andy trying to hurt Melinda. After this all this was confirmed, Melinda felt free. She offered to talk to her mom about her tragic experience even though she had the option to talk about it later. Not everything is made clear at the end of the book, but a couple things are. Melinda was raped, it was not her fault, and she would have never opened up about it and realized she had nothing to do with it without her best friend dating Andy

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

No one became friends with Melinda even though she had Heather by her side Melinda was still lonely, that’s what many don’t realize you could have 1-10 friends but no one truly knows someone mentally, they could portray a happy person when they can be living the worst at home. Melinda went through bullying alone and suffered a lot because no one was there to see something wrong so she went with her school life day after day lonely and eventually she lost Heather as a friend due to heather wanting acceptance from the

Although she did have one friend, Heather, who came over to her house a few times. Her mother’s first reaction to seeing Heather at the house expressed that she realized that Melinda and her best friend Rachel weren’t friends anymore, but didn’t proceed to convey why. Instead of asking what had happened between the two of them, she just implied that “it was about time she saw a friend of Melinda’s come over” (indirect quote in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, 15.5). Consequently, this lack of interest to know what had happened between the two friends showed obvious uninvolvement and unimportance creating an emotional

The world is in a constant state of change. There is no moment on Earth that is stagnant, and America is no exception. Even in the small recesses of the United States, a change is rolling in and sweeping little towns into a whirlwind of activity. One such town is explored in Outcasts United by Warren St. John. The residents of the “sleepy” town of Clarkston, Georgia, a town that has become a hub of cultural diversity thanks to refugee resettlement programs, live in a state of liminality that eventually allows xenophobia and contempt to flourish amongst its citizens. This is primarily because the “old” Clarkston residents fear the change and differences that their refugee counterparts bring with them in their search for a safe place to call

Throughout the book Melinda has problems with her family. like her mom calls her weird. And is mad about her grade that just makes it worse. And her father does not communicate with her mother .So that just starts more problems with the family .

Even her old friends are not even cordial with her because of an incident that happened at a party.“Her eyes meet mine for a second.”I hate you,” she mouths silently. She turns her back and laughs with her friends” (5). Despite all the negativity that is going on with her old friends, Melinda finally finds a friend that makes her feel like she belongs again but once again, another friendship dies right along with Melinda’s hope of feeling normal again. “You don’t like anything. You are the most depressed person I ever met, and excuse me for saying this, but you are no fun to be around and you need professional help. (105). After the only friends that she has breaks her heart, the thought that Melinda is alone in this world finally hits her and she just wants to curl up in a ball. Melinda’s depression takes over her social skills and she just shuts down.

All of Melinda's friends refuse to interact with her and the only one who seems eager to get to know her is Heather, the new kid who knows nothing of Melinda's previous infamous embarrassment . Melinda and Heather

The main character Melinda, is a character that I have underestimated in the beginning. Melinda is not completely mute, therefore occasionally will talk to some classmates. Before the trauma was revealed, I’ve always believed she was exaggerating small things. Melinda holds a strange power throughout the novel, which makes me wonder whether to pity her or not. Melinda doesn’t try to get what she wants, however acts like she wants to

Heather, who had once been Melinda’s “friend”, turns against Melinda when she says, “‘Look, you can’t eat lunch with me anymore. I’m sorry. Oh, and don’t eat those potato chips. They’ll make you break out.’ She neatly wraps her trash into a wax-paper ball and deposits it in the garbage can. Then she walks to the Martha table. Her friends scootch down to make room for her. They swallow her whole and she never looks back at me. Not once” (Anderson 107). The Martha’s were a group of people who do nice things for the community together and Heather dragged Melinda with her when Heather tried to join the Martha’s. When Heather says, “Look, you can’t eat lunch with me anymore”, she’s trying to say that Melinda is no longer someone suitable to hang out with Heather. Basically, Heather abandoned Melinda for another group of people who actually fit into the society. If Heather were an actual friend, she wouldn’t have just ditched Melinda like that for the Martha’s, who later on, reject Heather. Heather “never looks back” at Melinda which goes to show that Heather doesn’t see Melinda as a friend. Heather abandoned Melinda and if Heather had been a real friend, she wouldn’t have been so quick to let go of Melinda. Another example of an antagonist to Melinda is Rachel. Towards the beginning of the book, Rachel clearly displays her

The podcast titled Allowance, Taxes and Potty Training was truly amazing to listen to. I feel that after I listened to the podcast I had taken a higher level of understanding of the subjects at hand. Throughout the podcast we heard from an Economist by the name of Joshua Gans and his daughter, as well as the hosts of the podcast. The main idea of this podcast was the idea of an economy that is made in the home of Joshua Gans, where he gives his kids different incentives for completing tasks.

Have you ever wondered what the lives of some teenagers are like? This movie shows what some teenagers have to face in life. The movie Speak directed by Jessica Sharzer is a 2004 drama film based on the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. The running time of the film is 92 minutes. Some of the characters include Melinda Sordino who is portrayed by Kristen Stewart, Dave Petrakis who is portrayed by Michael Angarano and Mr. Freeman who is portrayed by Steve Zahn (imdb.com).