Outcast Character Analysis

The Family Crucible is a story about the Brice family who is recommended by Claudia’s psychiatrist to go to family therapy due to the fact that she has not been making progress in individual sessions. The Brice family comes to meet with Dr. Carl Whitaker and Dr. Augustus Napier, who co-facilitate family therapy throughout the story. The family is made up of five people: Claudia, the IP; Carolyn, mother; Laura, the sister; Don, the brother; and David, the father. The family is coming into therapy because there have been mounting concerns about Claudia and her behavior—acting out, staying out late, some fairly typical teenage stuff.

Again, throughout the whole book, Melinda has this odd feeling, she thinks that nobody likes her and is always down on herself. An example from the book that shows this behavior is at the beginning of the book, her first day of high school. "I have entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don't have anyone to sit with. I am outcast." (Anderson 4) As soon as she enters high school she doubts herself. It's almost as that she believes that since she has entered with the wrong clothes, the wrong hair, and nobody to sit with, that she will never fit in. This shows a sign of hopelessness, she is doubting herself to much. Another example of when Melinda shows sadness and hopelessness is when she hears about Rachelles Halloween party she is throwing. She says, "I knew I wouldn't get an invitation. I would be lucky to get an invitation to my own funeral." (Anderson 41) This shows Melinda again, being

It’s causing her to be separated from her old self, the real Melinda. Without her personality she is “almost dead, but not totally”, she is still living but feels like she has died inside.

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

Numerous teenagers notice the beginning of high school to be a difficult as they encounter a new obstacle, when walking into a new atmosphere it is common to lose one’s confidence not knowing what lies ahead. Mixed emotions are dealt from a freshman, Melinda Sordino, as she struggles to develop due to no growth and lack of confidence Unable to face her experiences and seek for help from others, in the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. The text uses Similes to display how Melinda is feeling where she passively lacks confidence due to her trauma. The use of metaphors is to describe Melinda’s fear of facing the truth towards her suffering. Finally, the value of symbolism explains how she is dealing with her trauma by observing her trauma towards

“Everyone in society should be a role model, not only for their own self-respect, but for respect from others.” ~ Barry Bonds. In this world bad situations occur frequently and it takes a good strong person to handle them in a mature way. Dealing with them this way not only shows that the person has self-control, but also makes them a good role model for people to look up to. In the book The Chosen, Chaim Potok uses Mr. Galanter to express his opinions of a good role model. Acting as a baseball coach and gym teacher, young boys look to him for guidance and motivation every day. Having this kind of position causes stress at times, and requires him to stay calm and level headed. Throughout this book, Mr. Galanter

Although she did have one friend, Heather, who came over to her house a few times. Her mother’s first reaction to seeing Heather at the house expressed that she realized that Melinda and her best friend Rachel weren’t friends anymore, but didn’t proceed to convey why. Instead of asking what had happened between the two of them, she just implied that “it was about time she saw a friend of Melinda’s come over” (indirect quote in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, 15.5). Consequently, this lack of interest to know what had happened between the two friends showed obvious uninvolvement and unimportance creating an emotional

Hence, when James has been barely a senior in high school, his girlfriend got pregnant. James did not choose to abandon the responsibility. Instead, he put himself in homeschooling, and at the same time, James went to work full time for his Uncle, rented an apartment, married, and then when his child was ten days old, James graduated from High School wearing a cap and gown. That is the honor, emotional intelligence that he comes to know from the two women in his life growing up. His grandmother and his mother are his legacies. Just as the families were influenced by their families while growing up in the Appalachians, these two women influenced his attitude and behavior. Although, his family did not feud with anyone. In Outliers, Gladwell

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.

Melinda and her friends decorated their rooms to show who they were, Melinda stole a little bit from everyone else. The only part that is really her is a stuffed rabbit collection from when she was younger. You can see that Melinda doesn't know who she is. "My stuffed rabbits crawl out of their burrows,noses awiggling, pink bunny, purple bunny, a gingham bunny from my grandma, all excited to have company"(177). She obviously doesn't usually get company because her stuffed rabbits are excited to see Heather,even after she dumped Melinda. Melinda is lonely and this just adds to her feelings of helplessness.

Another indication of Melinda’s self-destructive behavior is her loss of concentration. This can proven by Melinda’s declining grades which started off as “Playing Nice- B, Social Studies- C, Spanish-C, Art- A, Lunch- D, Biology-B, Algebra-C+, Clothes-C, English-C , Gym-C+.” After, her grades ended at, “Social Life-F, Social Studies-F, Spanish-D, Art-A, Lunch-D, Biology-D+, Algebra-F, Clothes-F, English-D+, Gym-D.” these quotes demonstrate that Melinda puts little effort into her work, meaning she is distracted and that her school isn’t her main priority. Certainly, her distracted behavior is because she is constantly rewinding the memories of what happened to her; she unable to get this out of her head. Seen from the evidence it is good to say Melinda is having difficulty stay focused. In addition, Melinda has found numerous ways to isolate herself from others. Throughout the book, Melinda takes us to her place of choice, being the abandoned janitor’s closet at her

However, as the year continues, and Melinda gains the support and friendship, she is relieved of the fear and loneliness. Having said support makes her feel happy. A girl named Ivy, who Melinda develops a friendship with “leads [Melinda] to the bathroom” as she has something to show her that she

The days are suddenly shorter, and chirpy colors have faded to darker shades without notice. Trees begin to lose their leaves, and they helplessly detach from their branches and plummet to the cold ground. This season is not anything like the previous season, like Melinda is no longer the happy-go-lucky child she was. Similar to a leaf that has been dropped and forgotten, everyone has renounced a Melinda growing isolated and withdrawn. Anderson writes, “Her [Rachel’s] eyes meet mine for a second. ‘I hate you,’ she mouths silently. She turns her back on me and laughs with her friends” (Anderson 5). Rachel does not bother to interrogate Melinda on why she called the authorities or stick up for her, which displays how Melinda’s supposed best friend does not truly care about her. This action lays the foundation of betrayal has causes Melinda feel alone and abandoned. It is later revealed through her thoughts that this is exactly what she believes, that “all that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say” (Anderson 9). This dreary kind of thinking adds onto the notion that Melinda has to deal with her troubles all on her

Melinda not opening up and speaking out really has an effect on her friendships, because she is

Heather- Heather is Melinda’s first friend in the ninth grade. Heather has just moved from Ohio and like Melinda, does not have any friends when she begins high school. Heather is self-absorbed and obsessed with integrating herself into the social scene.