Page 114: This question makes me wonder if people would actually believe what Melinda says if she speaks up. Andy, her rapist is well known, popular so the students might think Melinda is looking for attention. It’s sad to think that Melinda will never gain the trust of her classmates just because of an accident. I feel like the moment Andy confess everyone will feel bad for treating Melinda like that. Page 124: This question makes me wonder if you can lose yourself to the point where you can’t remember who you are. I wonder if when Melinda looks in the mirror does she see herself or someone else. I’ve heard of some people who can’t remember who they use to be, only of who they are now. It must be sad to forget yourself, because knowing yourself
At the beginning of the book, Melinda was at a high school party and was sexually assaulted by a senior student. This happened in late August, and Melinda is extremely scarred and traumatized by the incident. In the fall, Melinda is so broken that she cannot even speak – she does not tell anyone what happened
Melinda debates whether to tell Rachel that her current boyfriend was an assaulter. “I could talk to Rachel. (Yeah, right.) I could say I'd heard bad things about Andy. (It would only make him more attractive.) I could maybe tell her what happened. (As if she'd listen. What if she told Andy? What would he do?) (…) I need to do something about Rachel, something for her. Maya tells me without saying anything. I stall. Rachel will hate me. (She already hates me.) She won't listen. (I have to try.) I groan and rip out a piece of notebook paper. I write her a note, a left-handed note, so she won't know it's from me.” (151-152). Melinda finally confronts Rachel and tells her what exactly happened to her, but Rachel did not believe Melinda as she really liked Andy. Rachel apologizes to Melinda when she realizes when Andy attacks Melinda again because he got to know what she told Rachel. Melinda was brave even though she was unexpectedly attacked by Andy for the second time. This time, she fought back before Andy could do anything that was seriously harmful to her and she threatened to stab him with a piece of sharp broken glass. This shows us how Melinda developed from a scared girl to a person who threatened to kill her
When she starts school that fall, no one talks to her about what happened and Melinda ends up staying quiet. She tries to act like the event never happened and this has a very bad impact on her relationships at school. On her first day, it can clearly be seen that she is a social outcast. No one talks to her as they blame her for being the reason the party got busted. This further pushes Melinda into silence, eventually leading her into depression.
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
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
“No one loses their innocence. It is either taken away or given willingly” Tiffany Madison. A person’s innocence and freedom should be theirs to hold and control, but that is not always the way things unfold. Conviction flaws, poor evidence, and the social responses to these flaws are all involved and present in the cases of Paula Gray and Keith Allen Harward, as new evidence thirty years after they were imprisoned comes to light.
Since one fateful evening at a high school party prior to Melinda’s high school career she has lacked necessary companionship to help her through her 9th grade year. She seems to isolate herself from the world entirely. Melinda Sordino says to us, “Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie” (9). This really sums up Melinda’s attitude for the time following the party gone wrong. As the year goes on Melinda begins to make new friends and even reconnect with some old ones. This helps her grow into a more mature person which helps her regain her previous personality and confidence. She thinks of herself as a new person and realizes that she needs to move on from the past. Anderson includes this in one of the closing paragraphs, “It wasn’t my fault. And I’m not gonna let it kill me. I can
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.
``(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.
During an end of summer party, Melinda was sexually assaulted. This not only took a toll on her mental health, but also her social life. She suffered the loss of all her friends and she felt that she was
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
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
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.