Inciting Incident Monologue Analysis

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

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

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.

The victim states, “And that distorted me, damaged me, almost broke me. It is the saddest type of confusion to be told I was assaulted and nearly raped, blatantly out in the open, but we don’t know if it counts as assault yet (Baker).” The article demonstrates the emotional distress of the victim while also questioning the morality of the aggressor and the democratic system in defending offenses such as this. The reader grows sympathetic to the agony that the assault and the aggressor has caused and continues to cause throughout the case. The victim's letter encourages victims to speak out and find strength to overcome and help others and condemns the assault of anyone, especially of someone who is unable to consent to the sexual activity. The use of ethos encourages victims to speak out and find strength to overcome and help others and condemns the assault of anyone, especially of one who is unable to consent to the sexual

An important conflict that these two stories share is “Man vs. Self”. In Speak, Melinda deals with depression and mutes herself after the assault. She often blames herself for what happened and can’t commit to tell anyone else about. She’s trapped inside herself. She says, “I want to confess everything, to hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else”(Hawthorne ) She’s tired of feeling like this.Someone who could probably relate is Reverend Dimmesdale. Just like Melinda, he hates himself, but for a different reason. He’s in love with Hester and wants to be with her, but at the same time, he knows it’s a sin. He even beats himself as punishment.

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.

The book Speak follows the main character, Melinda, who was raped the summer by a senior named Andy Evans or as she calls him IT before her start into high school. Due to her rape, Melinda has become more reclusive and began to miss class by hiding in the janitor's closet or skipping school altogether just so she can hide from teachers she dislikes and avoid painful interactions with her former friends. Her grades a majorly affected as well due to her actions in school. She has a hard time worrying about her education as she tries to cope with her rape, finding the only solace in her art class project to create various interpretations of a tree. It is only after facing the fact that she was raped that she begins to recover from the trauma of

I have finally finished the excruciatingly painful amputation of my left leg following my horrendous case of trench foot. I honestly wanted to cry, I’m sure death is no where near as painful as the pain I will be forced to endure as I carry on through my life. The way they sawed through my dead leg as though they had no feeling of remorse. The look on their faces screamed “this isn’t my first time dealing with something so gruesome.” The way it plopped into the “doctor's” arm as he was cutting through the remaining pieces of living flesh. The way the people around me were staring in shock… you could see that look of horror, that look of “this can happen to me”. Haha, I guess I can’t blame them too much as I would do the

On 04-03-2016 at approx. 0553 hours, S/Sgt Loyd Lewis and I were dispatched to the 900 block of SE 40 RD in reference to a one-vehicle rollover injury accident. Dispatch advised the reporting party was a third party and an occupant of the vehicle had walked to the residence to summon help. Dispatch advised there was still one person still in the vehicle.

All too often do the victims of rape or sexual harassment cases bottle up the incident for months or even years before they are strong enough to publicize the wrongful act. In Sulkowicz’s case, she mentions that in the attack, “it could take two minutes for it to stop, or he could have strangled me to death.” She had begun to have sex with the man, but he eventually began to physically hurt and choke her, as he anally penetrated her. The Columbia University panel held her assailant not responsible (Perez-Pena, Taylor 1).

On Memorial Day 2013, my emotions started off happily, I was spending the weekend with my friends at the shore. Those happy emotions quickly faded into confusion and sadness. My confusion after being raped was derived from having no education on rape, and then wondering how a human could do that to another human. Sadness was only natural to feel, but I would not show it that weekend. My true sadness was masked with a fake smile and fake laughter that weekend. Masking my sadness transitioned into irritability when I finally got home. After six long months of masking my sadness, anger, and confusion with fake happiness, I spoke up.

For the past 2 years, I have gotten the opportunity to share about being a victim of sexual violence. Being able to talk on it should make it feel easier to overcome but, in my experience I’ve never felt more like; a liar, more silenced and vulnerable than the times I have spoken on my sexual assault and rape. Summer 2015, walking back from a friend’s place at 3 am, the entire night unfolded from getting stalked by a stranger, twice my size in an alley to him ripping my clothes and forcing himself on me. No screaming, no fighting, I watched the time go by so that if I was lucky I’ll make it home alive and wouldn’t remember it the next day. For months, I blamed myself; maybe I shouldn’t have been out so late, maybe I should have kicked or screamed.

It is defiantly possible to speak without spoken words; there are so many ways to convey a message without verbally saying what you mean. With Melinda being silent, this spoke in a lot of ways. This showed that something was wrong. Melinda’s actions play an important role in her speaking without spoken words. When she cuts her wrists with a paper clip, she states, “If a suicide attempt is a cry for help, then what is this? A whimper, a weep?” When she cuts her wrists, it her way of telling people she needs help.

Reading the letter caused a fire in me that wouldn't die out. Instead of discouraging me, it motivated to myself to take a stand against this violation of human rights. The more I mulled over my case, the more I became enraged with what had happened. Why shouldn't rape kits have regulatory laws? Why are only 3% of rapists convicted and imprisoned? Five years after my assault, I reached out to my close friend Jacqueline, who is also a survivor, and together we began collaborating on a series of projects to help victims. Ironically, at the time first touched base, the events in Stamford came to light. Consequently, an outcry could be heard among those who watched the news. The three-month sentence Brock Lee received baffled the nation; the conviction being a slap on the wrist for a perpetrator who caused the victim lifetime trauma. While disheartening, the story is all too familiar. The harsh reality is that rape culture is a societal norm, where this occurrence isn't

Hello up there Mr. Shark sir! I haven’t been havin’ the best day, you know, being threatened to be eaten and all that jazz, just a little thought I wanted to express… Don’t even think about it! The mixture of no meat and all fur and bones, and the breath, that breath won’t attract anyone, you know what mean?