Rape In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

If you were sexually abused what would be the one thing that helps you open up about your rape? For Melinda it’s her ex-best friend, Rachel. In the book ‘Speak,’ Melinda gets sexually assaulted by the most popular guy in school, Andy Evans. Rachel may have been the one to open Melinda’s eyes, but she definitely did not have the intentions to help. Clueless of Melinda’s rape, she starts dating Andy Evans, and this is when Melinda realizes she has to step up and help her lost friend from being Andy Evan’s next sexual assault victim.

60% of Americans know a survivor of Domestic Abuse or Sexual Assault. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, tells the story of the summer before her freshman year of high school, Melinda Sordino meets Andy Evans at a senior party. She starts high school at Merryweather High School as an outcast since all her old friends left her, and is shunned by her peers for calling the police. She declines to tell anybody the occasions that took place. The symbol “mouth” represents Melinda is conservative about what happens in her life. The symbol “mouth” represents Melinda being conservative about what happens in her life because she is afraid and has no one to talk to, she is traumatized by the things that have previously affected her, and Melinda also stops

Rape defined is forcing sexual intercourse upon someone without his or her consent. This isn’t just a girls’ problem, boys have to deal with this too. According to the American Psychological Association, nearly one in ten girls and one in twenty boys say they have been raped or experienced some form of sexual assault (Atlanta Journal, 1). Almost more than half of rape victims know their attacker; they don’t report it or tell anybody. In most date rape cases, the attacker and victim have known each other for at least a year or even longer. Only about 10 percent of rapes are reported, less than that go to court. According to data taken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, one forcible rape is reported to the police every six minutes, on

Laurie Halse Anderson’s fiction novel “Speak” relates the story of a girl from Syracuse, New York. This story surrounds Melinda Sordino who was victimized by Andy Evans at a high school party. She was afterwards labeled an outcast within her school after calling the police to the barn where they all were, getting many of her friends and classmates in trouble for underage drinking. Since none of Melinda’s friends were aware of the rape, they all believed she called the police just to bust them. In the second half of Melinda’s school year, Andy Evans confronts her and attempts to rape her again; however, this is when Melinda finally finds her voice and gets help before Andy Evans takes advantage of

Meet Melinda Sordino, a 14 year old girl and the narrator of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Melinda is a freshman at Merryweather High, where she mainly feels like an outcast. Due to a recent traumatic event, in which Melinda was raped by a highschool senior, she refuses to speak. The young teenager is however extremely loyal. When Melinda sees her ex-best friend in a relationship with her rapist, she is determined to warn her and protect her. She is also extremely strong. Even though Melinda was raped, she sees herself as a survivor more than a victim towards the end. “He hurt me. it wasn’t my fault. And I’m not going to let it kill me. I can grow.” Anderson 198

There are debates on whether or not the laws for statutory rape are strict enough. The age of consensual sex varies from state to state. In some states the age of consent is 16 while others start at the age of 17. Though many of these teens may be physically ready to engage in sex, many of them are not mentally prepared. In their article, “Enforce Statutory Rape Laws to Curb Teen Sex”, Kathleen Sylvester and Jonathan O’Connell talk about relationships between 12, 13 and 14 year old girls and sexually mature men who are inherently unequal, often coercive and almost always damaging. Many of these girls find themselves engaging in sexual activities with much older men. Until stricter laws are put into place, as well as parents explaining these

This article addresses a controversial issue that has remained secret for years. Twenty-nine courageous women have come together to tell their stories about how Bill Cosby sexually abused them. They claim that they were drugged and raped by him, sometimes for weeks and months. Some of them were even underage at the time it happened and they were afraid at that time to come public with this issue. Almost all the women say that they know even more victims, but they are afraid to step into the public eye. However, Cosby denies any sexual harassment and hasn’t faced any punishment as there is no tangible proof that those statements are true.

In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character, Melinda Sordino experiences a disturbing event over the summer of her eighth grade year. She was sexually assaulted by Andy Evans at a party. Melinda nearly loses her mind totally as she began shutting down on all fronts. However, she slowly recovered from her traumatizing experience, and eventually learned how to live with what happened.

Rape is defined as sexual intercourse that is forced on a person without his or her permission. There is an average of 293,000 instances (victims age 12 or older) of sexual assault each year and 98% of rapists will never spend a day in jail. However, Melinda a character from the novel "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson fought and spoke about her story. Melinda Sordino was raped at a party for the upcoming school year. She falls victim to the effects of rape; anxiety, PTSD, and depression all alone in her freshman year because she couldn't speak.

As a whole, the rape culture should not exist, rape should not even be a thing but the biggest problem is the denial of it. As a whole, we would rather shut rape victims up versus listening to them and helping them. In Rose’s speech, she began to speak on rape and how injustice it is. Rape cases go unheard because victims are too afraid to come forth because they feel they will be blamed for what happened. Society has told young girls that they cannot wear too short of shorts or dresses or skirts because it is “too tempting” to surrounding males despite the weather, how absurd.

“By not coming forward (about rape), you make yourself a victim forever.” Laurie Halse Anderson wrote a book called Speak. Speak is about a girl named Melinda who gets raped and loses all of her friends, which leads to Melinda stop speaking. Don’t let fear stop you from being who you are. In the book there is a symbol, a tree. Throughout the entire book the tree shows growth, and change over time. You can overcome your fears in many ways, just like their are many trees.

Melinda is unable to speak with her family of her rape because her home is broken in her eyes. Her mom does not have time to spend with her due to her work schedule and stress load. The last thing she wants to do is add pressure to her already stressful job. Melinda’s father is a successful insurance agent who is more focused on the success of his job than his family. Her parents only showed concern of her welfare when instructed to do so by her counselor.

“Keep your mouth shut or I can make this a whole lot worse,” the rapist told her right before the attack. Rape is at crisis levels; ordinary boys and men commit rape and other violence against women. The normalization of sex and pornography make it acceptable for boys to see women as sexual objects. The United States should keep the same age for consent and focus more on educating teenagers about responsible and safe sex practices or raising the consent age.

According to psychologists around the world, many who are sexually assaulted keep quiet in fear of rejection and embarrassment . In the book, "Speak", the main character Melinda Sordin, was sexually assaulted the summer of her ninth grade year. Throughout the novel, she chooses to keep quiet and act like everything is normal, when in reality her world is flipped upside down. However, Melinda should have spoken out. It is much better to bring attention to a subject of importance, than to let it rest in the shadow of exile. The truth may not only be of importance to you, but anybody around the problem.

During the final months of his eighth grade year, when most students were getting excited for the upcoming spring break, Sam was raped by his girlfriend at a park while they were on their second date. After keeping how he felt about the assault bottled up inside of him for eight months, he slowly began to open up. He got many supportive responses from his friends, but others were not as sympathetic. Classmates took to calling him a slut and one went of out the way to tell Sam that he deserved what happened, that it was his fault he was raped. At first, Sam blamed himself for the assault.