Melinda's Character Analysis

Melinda, the main character of speak was raped at a summer party. She calls the cops and that is where it all started. When Melinda reaches high school she is faced with all her old friends. They all hate her and want nothing to do with her, because of her calling the cops. Throughout the whole book Melinda runs into tough situations that eventually lead to her standing up for herself. Eventually, everyone finds out the truth, of why Melinda calls the cops. Although Melinda learns to stand up for herself, throughout the book she shows signs of depression such as poor performance in school, sadness and hopelessness, and withdrawal of friends and activities.

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.

Having to go through sexual assault and then a year of bullying made Melinda speak up. Melinda went down a rough road in her life. Through all this Melinda grew strength and wisdom. At the school Melinda warned the girls about what Andy is capable of doing. She told Rachelle to watch out and to be careful around him. In Melinda’s later years she began writing her about story to help her express her feelings. She began warning others what sexual assault can do people and the harms of bullying. Even tho Melinda’s experience harmed her in many ways it gave her a story to help

One of MElinda’s ex-friends starts dating the guy who raped her. She sent anonymous letters trying to make her stay away from him. That proves she has grown, and she doesn’t want others to suffer because of him like she did. “I dig my fingers into the dirt and squeeze. A small clean part of me waits to warm and burst through the surface. Some quiet Melinda girl I haven’t seen in months. That is the seed I will care for,” (chapter 86, page 188-189). Melinda is facing her fears. She went to the place where it all happened. She wanted to have peace. She was ready to move on from the situation. The bottle was now open, and her feelings were flying

They first met at an end of the year party. At the time, she was entering ninth grade and this was her first high school party. He met up with Melinda after she had a few drinks not long after they encountered they left the party to have a little fun of there own. Melinda feels like she is worthless and not needed. She wasn't able tell him to stop, "’I thought it was a little rude, but my tongue was thick with beer and I couldn't figure out how to tell him to slow down’" (134). Andy raped Melinda and that was only the beginning. He makes her life miserable. All she thinks about is Andy and how he wouldn’t stop. Her influences her life in ways that are not positive. He has her shut out of the world because she doesn’t want to be noticed by anyone. Melinda

During the summer as Melinda was approaching 9th grade year, she was raped at an end of summer party by a very popular upper class man named Andy Evans. After the incident, Melinda called the cops on the party

Our mouths stay shut when danger is poured upon us, we stay hidden to stay out of the limelight. We don’t know the damage and danger that‘s caused to ourselves until we see that our voice is no more to be heard and it’s nothing but a mere whisper. In the book, there’s many messages that go on the neglection, the bullying, and the silence of rape a victim. We meet Melinda’s parents as hard workers, but never truly at home, whereas normally there’s at least one parent home Melinda only gets notes of what’s in the fridge and when they’ll be home late or none at all. Melinda goes through neglection since middle school when her parents got promotions where her mom became store manager of a downtown store, while her father sells insurance.

Just before school ended, she started communicating with her lab partner and friend, David Petrakis. She also met Ivy, a kind girl in her art class. As Melinda finally met people that she felt comfortable and happy around, she gained confidence. Her teachers and parents were pleased to discover that this also improved Melinda’s attendance and grades. Melinda finally opened her mind enough to think through the events of the party. She had blamed herself the whole time, just like the rest of the school. As Andy pointed out, Melinda never explicitly told him, “ no” during her rape. She thought it was wimpy that she called the cops. She let her friends and peers convince her that she was an idiot and a wimp. Melinda eventually allowed herself to figure out that she was a victim. She never gave permission to Andy, and she was right to call the police because she was in pain and in danger. Once Melinda opened up and let herself and others in, she was able to defend herself. Melinda proved her confidence and power when she told Andy, “No!” when he tried to attack her in her closet. With Melinda’s new found confidence, she was able to drastically improve her life and save herself from her

Melinda goes back to the place where she was assaulted and has a moment of reflection and self evaluation. She realizes that her rape was not her fault and she should speak up.

The tree Melinda is assigned in art class symbolizes her and how she changes dramatically, for better or worse, throughout the book. In the near beginning Melinda draws trees that have been struck by lighting, the trees are dark, broken down and weary to symbolize how Melinda is feeling at this point. A great example of this is when Melinda says “For a solid week, ever since the pep rally, I’ve been painting watercolors of trees that have been hit by lightning. I try to paint them so they are nearly dead, but not totally. Mr. Freeman doesn’t say a word to me about them. He just raises his eyebrow. One picture is so dark you can barely see the tree at all” (Anderson 30). This symbolizes how she is going through a period in her life where she

``(198) Melinda is talking about when she got raped. She is feeling regret for not speaking up when she should of. She wants to forget what happened but she can’t.

Analysis There are so many things wrong with what happened in this paragraph. Andy decides to harass Melinda, in public, while he's flirting with another girl. As if it's not bad enough he's rubbing in her face that he ‘won’, he is now saying she's stupid for not knowing better by flirting with the other girls while molesting Melinda. 5. Point 2 When people accuse Melinda of calling the police it reminds her of the night ‘IT’ hurt her and the fact that she ran instead of talking about what happened to the

In her mind, Melinda tells the girl that there's more to the story than she knows. But, Melinda can't tell everybody the real story, in fact, she can't even look at that part of herself. Heather seems that she should defend Melinda, but she doesn't do it as It might keep her from gaining popularity. Things get noisy, Melinda's head is in her hands and she screams, but nobody can hear her. On the contrary, there is one man that treats her correctly and that man is Mr. Freeman.

A trait that stands out in the book is the symptom of bodily memories. In Melinda’s case, during a frog dissection in her science class, she remembers the opening up and even says, “She doesn’t say a word. She is already dead. A scream starts in my gut – I can feel the cut, smell the dirt, feel the leaves in my hair.” (81). One of the other symptoms that Melinda has is self-harm. The first time that this is shown in the book, Melinda says this, “I open up a paper clip and scratch it across the inside of my left wrist. Pitiful. If a suicide attempt is a cry for help, then what is this? A whimper, a peep?” (87). Melinda also has a hard time talking to her parents about the rape to which she says, “How can I talk to them about that night? How can I start?” (72). Some victims recover from such a traumatic experience, while others don’t and live a lifetime of depression and must undergo intense therapy. In Melinda’s case, she finds redemption by talking to her parents and the guidance counselor, and putting her faith into her teachers, friends, and her art project at school. Because rape can affect anybody anywhere, everyone should be aware of the circumstances, and how to deal with it.

Page 133: This memory is important because instead of putting the recollections of what happened that night at the back of her head she is remembering them. Remembering what happened the night she was raped will help Melinda move on. The less afraid she is of remembering the more she will be able to cope