Laurie Halse Anderson 's Writing Reflects The Time

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

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

Psychologists usually agree that the teenage years are among the most difficult periods in one’s life. Most teens are trying to figure who they are, what they believe, and how they fit into the world around them. Beginning in the late 1970’s, a whole genre of fiction, referred to as coming-of- age literature, emerged and serves, at least for many teens, as believable presentations of young people learning to navigate the difficulties of their lives, often fraught with feelings of rejection, seemingly unresolvable personal turmoil, social problems, school and family issues, etc. Indeed one value of reading is to see and better understand some aspects of ourselves through studying others. The reading of SPEAK, a somewhat controversial

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

There are many valuable aspects in life that may mean a lot to a person. In this case, friendship is one of the most important relationships a person can have. Human interaction is something necessary to survive, having a friend is essential to the well being of everyone. However, not all relationships with people can be considered a friendship because some may take advantage of others to gain something for themselves. Whereas, other friendships may last years and remain strong between the two people, but if there is no trust then there is a possibility of losing a friend. On the other hand, positive friendships still exist and are the ones to cherish and appreciate the most. The novel Speak written by Laurie Halse Anderson is based on a fourteen year-old girl named Melinda, who was sexually assaulted at a summer party. She called the police for help but since none of her friends knew what occurred, they assumed she called to get them all in trouble. This made her an outcast and she spent her ninth-grade year by herself. The theme of friendship is evident in the novel Speak as it impacts the protagonist Melinda. This is seen through Melinda 's friendship with Rachel, Mr. Freeman, and Heather.

In Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda Sordino experiences something that is almost impossible to forget: rape. After sexually assaulted by a senior as an 8th grader, the one thing she needs, someone to talk to, becomes absent in her life when all of her friends leave her. Many other turning points occur during the story that change and affect her identity. The major turning points that affect her identity are being raped in a field at a party, being attacked again in a closet at her school, and everyone finding out the truth about what happened in the end.

When school starts Melinda keeps quiet about her rape and her emotions go to a downward spiral because of the intimidation friends her rapist and lack of support from her parents, school faculty, and supposed friends. Melinda is convinced that nobody understands

“After a traumatic experience, the human system of self preservation seems to go into permanent alert, as if the danger might return at any moment” (Judith Lewis Herman). The psychoanalyst Lewis Herman describes how encountering agonizing pain causes individuals to become more cautious as a result. The psychoanalytic lens is based on Freudian theories and asserts that “ people’s behavior is affected by their unconscious:...the notion that human beings are motivated, even driven, by desire, fears, needs, and conflicts of which they are unaware…” (Tyson 14-15) High schools a place where tragedy are brought upon people, but their voices aren’t heard. Melinda, a high school freshman, is the protagonist in Laurie Halse Anderson’s book, Speak.

So far I have found this book really easy to read and understand. I like how melinda tells the story in her own way, she knows how to tell a story I like it. I never really read any books by Laurie Halse Anderson, this is my first book i read that she wrote, but I think that she is actually a pretty good writer. But anyways melinda is a very independent person. She can be sarcastic and funny at times, but she can also be deep and dark at times also. But yeah so far i guess i like the book. We are so close to finishing it. I liked all the terms, they were interesting, they made me wanna keep reading for some reason even though i'm not into this kinda stuff.

The reason this book would be read one hundred years from now is because of the fact that women and children being afraid to

in the novel speak by laurie false anders, we meet a high school student named melinda who throughout the novel struggles with the thought of being raped, proving that she has lack of trust and fear mixed up inside her. along with that, we learn that melinda cannot be herself again because she feels like she is experiencing the rape all over

Sarah is a kind girl, she gets good grades and is what society would think as quite pretty. However, on a daily basis, she is harassed from the time that she wakes up, until the time that she goes to sleep in tears. She has attempted to talk to other adults such as the teachers at the school. Sadly, the bully only got off a warning and Sarah was still tormented day in and day out. This short example shows that schools need to shine more light on the subject of bullying. Schools have “attempted” to take on this idea of bullying by plastering posters one walls along with counselors that try their hardest to help. Nevertheless, this cannot be enough to stop bullying at schools, can it? With the

In Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson utilizes mirrors to provide the readers with insight into the mind of the protagonist, Melinda Sordino, an isolated and lonely high school freshmen with the weight of what happened to her at a party over the summer break. Prior to the party, Melinda was not extremely popular, but she had a core group of friends. Her assault changed all of that. According to a report in the late 1990’s, “the number of incidents of date rape has slowly declined. In the 1990s, the time period for Anderson's novel, 1.1 million women reported intimate violence in 1993 as compared with 900,000 female victims in 1998” (Constantakis 262). Although the incident of rape is not uncommon and fortunately declining, it is still a taboo

Speak is often referred to as a classic young adult books. Listed in the English Journals “Bold Books for Teenagers” column as one of the “Best Young Adult Novels of All Time” in 2005, it has won numerous awards including the School Library Journal award for “Best Book of the Year,” (Jackett, 2007). Although well deserving of recognition, for older teens titles such as All the Rage by Courtney Summers and Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr, they are items to keep on the bookshelf. All the Rage deals with a girl from a low socioeconomic background that gets sexually assaulted by the town’s “golden boy.” Branded a liar and bullied relentlessly, Summers’ novel examines the shame young women often have to endure when who you are matters more than it should. Story of a Girl explores the impact one mistake can have on the rest of one’s life, and the struggle to overcome social stigmas.