Laurie Halse Anderson Peer Pressure

In the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Andy Evans impacted Melinda Sordino in a very negative way. Melinda was raped by Andy Evans at a party weeks before she started high school as a freshman. Melinda, who was scared and unsure, called the cops. But she was too horrified to say anything and ends up going home before they arrived. But the police do come and arrest people at the party.

Just before she entered high school, Melinda was smart and on the verge of popularity. She was a straight B student and had a group of close, reliable friends, but her life changed

Everyone has someone in their lives who can help make them strong and help them to speak out. In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson the main character, Melinda Sordino, lost her voice and does not speak due to a traumatic experience. She went to a high school party at the end of the summer and met this boy named Andy. They danced a little, talked and kissed. Andy took Melinda out to the woods and raped her. She called the cops because she was so scared. When the cops showed up, they arrested people. Everyone knew Melinda called the police which makes everyone hate her. So she starts high school and has no friends and does not talk to anyone including her parents. But throughout the book there were three people who help Melinda find her voice.

To begin with, in the book “Speak” , by Laurie Halse Anderson, A girl named Melinda gets picked on by all her classmates, in her her freshman year at Merryweather High School in Syracuse, because she called the cops in the middle of a party. In that party she get sexually assaulted by a senior named Andy Evans. Since that party she started feel different,she doesn’t say anything because she thinks she is irrelevant in her school and home,her parents when they do sit down for a dinner they yell at her act like they care about how she is doing in school when they went 6 weeks without saying anything to her, they

At the start of grade nine Melinda had three unique conflict with Rachel, the society and Mr. Freeman. She started with not having any support from Rachel only negative attention from her. As the year progressed she developed a friendship with Rachel which lead Melinda to overcome her biggest trauma in her life, Andy Evans. Melinda's second conflict was with society, she had no support from anyone or help to get over the trauma of communication. Melinda's life takes and interesting turn when David Petrakis helps her overcome her crisis of speaking.

Melinda Sordino is influenced by peer pressure because her friends went to a party where she ended up drinking and getting involved with a boy (Addy) who took advantage of her. I do not think I was ever involved with anything like this because my grandmother is a strict woman, so I was never aloud out of the house unless it was with family. I thought it was very dumb of Melinda to do that because going to a party and drinking at that age is wrong, these kids need to find some type of discipline. Melinda had a better way of handling the situation by telling an adult that she trusted,I feel like if she never went to that party none of this would have happened. Her family and friends around can be a better influence to her, talk to her, be there

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

Peer pressure influences them because they want to fit in but they most of the time have to do something stupid to fit in. Which that Is something nobody should do. Laurie Halse Anderson the author of “Speak” is saying that almost all teens go through peer pressure and she wants them to learn not to give into peer pressure because they will regret it further in life because things can go really wrong.

In the beginning of the novel, Melinda was upset and nervous because she called the cops on a party early in the summer. Nobody understood that she did it because she was raped, so all of the school despised her. This caused her to blend in, and act like nothing happened, which proved to be difficult. Laurie Halse Anderson represents this feeling when Melinda struggles to draw a simple tree. She says, “How hard can it be to put a tree on a piece of paper? Two vertical lines for the trunk. Maybe some thick branches… and plenty of leaves to hide the mistakes” (p.32). This shows that Melinda was trying to cover up the mistakes she made, and look like everything was fine. The people who used to be

Peers have a major role in shaping a person's identity. Children tend to have a similar identity as their peers. “Similarity among friends. Strong correlations were found.” If a friend is doing something it makes the child feel pressured into doing it to. Adolescents tend to “rebel” against their parents in their teen years and that’s when peers become a huge influence on shaping the teen’s identity. For example if a persons friends are doing drugs he or she may feel peer pressured. Peer pressure is influence from members of one's peer group. If his or her friends do good things, for example, pick up trash or treat others with respect it helps the adolescent to not liter and pick up after themselves and treat people with respect. A lot of adolescents feel peer pressure every day if they are not fitting in with the right peer group. Peers could shape the teens identity into a good one or a bad one depending on their friends personalities and

This quote show that Melinda is an outcast, “ I have no friends. I have nothing to say. I say nothing" (Anderson 116). This quote shows that Melinda is insecure because, while Melinda is in the guidance counselor's office, her counselor is telling her that she’s been failing her classes and Melinda feels insecure. She feels out of place in the environment. Melinda is self-conscious that she feels she has to try to be pretty in order to gain her popularity back. Since Melinda has lost some friends coming into high school, she’s been feeling down on herself and depressed. Also, Melinda shows that she is insecure by saying, “ I am an outcast “( 8 Anderson). This proves that Melinda is insecure because before the start of High School Melinda was a very popular girl which is now an outcast. Until things went wrong for Melinda and she called the cops. Melinda had called the cops because she had been raped when she was drunk, so her first response was to call the cops. The cops had shown up, making everyone leave the party because of underage drinking and everyone knows Melinda has called the cops. Since that has happened she feels insecure by being an outcast. Because of this Melinda no longer is popular nor has no friends. Melinda feels she is insecure because she’s an outcast and has no friends which these feelings lead

Everyone grows physically. A person can be 4’ll”, and a couple years later they are 5’3”, Physical change is not a big deal. When someone grows as a person or emotionally it can go both ways, You either emotionally grow in a negative or positive way. The person can either become a better person, or grow with more flaws and bad habits. Speak was written by Laurie Halse Anderson, published on October 22, 1999. The story shows the character development of the main character, Melinda Sordino. Although teenagers go through emotional growth because their maturity levels are increasing, Melinda goes through a rough situation that helps her grow as a person.

Growing up as a teenager (between the ages of 13-19), you are exposed to many forms of peer pressure. Some of these forms causes us to think “is this really worth trying/doing?”, or “will my popularity

We all have been young adolescents before and experienced all the things junior high and high school has to offer. Being a teenager is something everyone has or will experience in our life times. Teenagers go through a crucial time in their lives where they really figure out who they are and how to make more adult decisions. Peer pressure has always been a regular part of teenage life. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry state's “Peers play a large role in the social and emotional development of children and adolescents. Their influence begins at an early age and increases through the teenage years. It is natural, healthy and important for children to have and rely on friends as they grow and

In society today, people tend to make decisions based on the actions and choices of others. Peer pressure is a very real issue that affects most of the teenagers of the world today. it is a dangerous form of persuasion. It causes teenagers to easily succumb to unethical activities under the influence and pressure of their friends. people see the effects of