Short Answers On Laurie Halse Anderson's 'Speak'

Metaphors in ‘Speak’ show that Melinda’s past peers unintentionally destroy her self-respect, resulting in a feeling of dread engulfing Melinda, her. Thus, Some individuals tend to jump to conclusions without thinking about others .On her first day of high school, the entire ninth grade population holds a grudge against Melinda for calling the cops at a summer party without knowing it was because she was raped. During her lunchtime, Melinda “stand[s] in the centre aisle of the auditorium” as if she is “a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special, looking for someone, anyone, to sit next to.” (Anderson 5). Melinda, standing surrounded with hundreds of people, yet still alone, shows that she has no support from anyone. Melinda is hurt so strongly by others rude attitude towards her to the point she feels as if she has been physically wounded, even hunted, by the students from her school. Melinda is seen as if she betrayed her peers by calling the police, lowering her certainty along with her self-esteem, which interrupts her mental ageing process. She is instantly blamed which results in a lack of support, as well as company to start high school. In addition, Melinda views herself as a broken girl who cannot figure out her own life. One night, she is forced to go shopping for new clothes with her mother. In the change room, Melinda carefully studies herself in the mirror. Her self- belief is too low,

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.

Self) She sees herself as an outcast. the internal conflict of Melinda Sordino I that she was raped and does not tell anyone about it, causing her to become depressed. Her parents realize that she acts differently at home, but Melinda does not tell the reason why. In the story, Melinda fears a guy named "IT", who we later on know as Andy Evans. And teases her in the story for example on page 97 he hands Melinda a donut saying, "What a bite?". He is obviously teasing her and Melinda makes it noticeable that she fears him by running away. The authors purpose is to show that Andy is the reason for Melinda's depression. She expresses this by having Melinda call Andy

The book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, is about a teenage girl who stops talking after she gets raped. The title of the book is ironically based on the fact that Melinda, the protagonist, chooses not to speak again after the incident. During the end of the summer party, Melinda calls the cops on her friends causing her to avoid interactions with society. Her peers and friends begin to hate her, yet nobody once asks her why she did what she did. The reasoning for her action is that she was being raped. The tragic events changed once happy and enthusiastic girl into a depressed and introverted girl while being a dreadful student at a school. The main character Melinda gradually begins to portray signs of recovery and strength through her

Everyone has hardships that they come across, but what really matters is the way they overcome them. In the book “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character Melinda Sordino does not try to face her hardships, she wants her problems to just disappear, but what makes her different is that she learns that saying nothing will just make her problems worse. The author characterized Melinda as very brave, although it took time for her to accept her problems. Melinda tries to admit what happened to her, deal with the bullies in her school, and tries to help her ex-best friend, Rachel to see with whom she is dealing with.

Her mother refused to drive her, so she decided to skip school. As she was getting her donuts, Andy Evans, IT, is there. “Maybe he won't notice me if I stand still. That's how rabbits survive; they freeze in the presence of predators”(Anderson 50). Melinda freezing up in terror is not a normal reaction to seeing another human being, even if IT is the person who raped her at the party during the summer. A better way to have handled this situation is if she bought her doughnut and left, leaving Andy in a less ‘predatory’ position above

Anderson writes about a young girl who is struggling to speak up about a traumatic event that happened to her the summer before her freshman year. “But Melinda cannot "speak" about her pain, and, consequently, the adults in the novel tend to see her as arrogant and apathetic and get angry at her lack of participation in class, her failing grades, and her all-around

In this novel Melinda's conflict is the trauma of being raped at an end-of-summer party. She seems unable to confess nor contain what happened to her. Melinda's distress is only made worse by being an outcast at school. As a result, she is unable to speak with ease. Melinda spirals into

Rachelle, an old best friend of Melinda’s, is someone Melinda talks to numerous times through the form of notes over the course of Speak. Once Melinda becomes aware that Rachelle is dating Andy Evans, Melinda’s assaulter, she finds it very difficult to confront Rachelle and finds using notes is more effective. Melinda is first seen doing this when she writes a short note and tapes it to Rachelle’s locker. In the letter, she warns her about Andy saying, “Andy Evans will use you. He is not what he pretends to be,” hoping Rachelle will indeed listen to her and leave Evans. In spite of the warning, Rachelle decides to ignore Melinda’s first cautioning thus resulting in Melinda having to find another way. The second time Melinda goes a little more public with her note when she writes it on the side of a bathroom stall. Taking a marker, Melinda writes, “Guys to Stay Away From: Andy Evans,” trying again to further convince Rachelle that Andy is not a good guy. Once again Rachelle decides to ignore the anonymous letters left around and Melinda in a final attempt writes a note Rachelle is sure to listen to. During study hall in the library, Melinda and Rachelle start talking back and forth by passing notes. Melinda eventually builds up enough courage to tell Rachelle what Andy Evans actually did to her, explaining the whole night of the party. This is an

Who am I? Throughout Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the narrator Melinda tries to find herself, to find her voice after a traumatic experience. In this novel, the readers watch the growth and maturity of Melinda even after she encounters a devastating incident with another character named Andy, who shows his incapability to realize his wrongdoing in Speak. A pivotal moment of this novel occurred when Melinda says “Let me tell you about it” (Laurie Halse Anderson, 198). This moment is remarkable because it reveals the development of Melinda, who’s insightfulness and intelligence is obscured by her suffering from being raped by the antagonist of this novel. This pivotal moment doesn’t only change and mature Melinda but also changes several characters’

Rape is a subject that I am concerned with and after reading the book, I was further educated on rape. Rape can happen to anyone at any given time and personally, should be something one should be aware of. Before I read Speak, I did not have

Much of the novel revolves around Melinda's need to confess about her incident but her fear of not being heard. holds her back. At the beginning of the story she tries to hide behind her silence but it becomes clear in order to move past her rape she must speak out. She confesses twice in the story once by writing a note to Rachel and the second time a spoken one to Mr.Freeman. At the end after she has confessed her secret verbally Melinda feels free.

One of the most compelling books I read in my life was called “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson. It is a story about a young high school girl who was raped by the quarterback of her high school’s football team one night at a party. This immediate damage of this traumatic event was her ability to speak out about what happened to her that dark night. As an eighth grader, I was very frustrated at the fact that this young girl had so many opportunities to bring justice to her rape, but never did all because she was still suffering from her experience. By the end of the book, she finally mustered up the courage to say something,

Melinda has a huge internal conflict; she struggles throughout the whole novel to inform anyone about her trauma. Melinda was invariably pushed to speak up. Mr. Freeman pushed her to

The theme of the tree is a big symbolization of the growth that Melinda goes throughout the novel its difficulties and of its importance to Melinda. Melinda is given this year-long project to interpret trees into art. It is at the end of the story that the trees become more profound like Melinda raking leaves to the very end when she completes her project and shows it to her art teacher before finally telling her about what she has been through showing that she has grown throughout the