Stereotypes In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

What would you do if the person you care the most about was suffering from depression? In Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the narrator, Melinda Sordino, suffers from depression and insecurity after being molested by a senior, Andy Evans. Over time, her emotions change positively. In her art class, she was assigned trees as her project to express emotion. In this novel, trees speak for her because they represent her life, growth, and her refusal to speak.

Stereotypes exist everywhere, individuals stereotype others as well as themselves. Stereotypes function in society as a perceived notion of a group of individuals based upon prior experience from a select few people from aforementioned group. Stereotypes exist within literature as well; stereotypes can be used to help personify individuals and make the best stock characters. The stereotype of a character can be used to better exemplify what people may or may not be really like. In The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Sinclair stereotypes immigrants to show their initial optimism, ignorance and finally- the realization of what life is really like.

Stereotypes exist everywhere, individuals stereotype others as well as themselves. Stereotypes function in society as a perceived notion of a group of individuals based upon prior experience from a select few people from aforementioned group. Stereotypes exist within literature as well; stereotypes can be used to help personify individuals and make the best stock characters. The stereotype of a character can be used to better exemplify what people may or may not be really like. In The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Sinclair stereotypes immigrants to show their initial optimism, ignorance and finally- the realization of what life is really like.

The danger of a single story is that they let the powerful downgrade the weaker because they create stereotypes, they can hurt the people, and no one gets represented from the culture.

Speaking out is a tough task for many people that have dealt with horrible, traumatic situations. In the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character, Melinda, is one of those people who lost their voice. To be able to understand another person’s emotions, feelings, and situations is very difficult to do, especially because of how our society has formed and became a very judgmental place. Melinda Sordino starts her freshman year at Merryweather High School in Syracuse, New York, to a terrible start; she is a victim of a sexual assault and loses her confidents and voice to speak out. The more she interacts and makes new friends is how she starts to reach out and become more self-sufficient. Few weeks into school Melinda’s only

In a powerful experiment we were able to see through the eyes of a kindergarten children prejudice dynamics. In a famous experience by Jane Elliot she separated her class between blue-eyed and brown-eyed students. Professor Elliot had separated her students by making one eye group inferior to the other making them have certain benefits and better treatment than the other group of students. Eventually, the students were switched the following day. This experiment have showed this group of kindergarten students how colors and discrimination affected the minority population. After this successful experiment with the kindergarten student’s professor Jane Elliot had done many other experiments using adults using the a similar technique blue-eyed

“It is my first morning of high school. I have seven new notebooks, a skirt I hate, and a stomachache,” (Anderson 3). These are Melinda Sordino's first thoughts as she enters her first year of high school. Melinda dreads having to be around so many people and is shunned by other students for calling the police at a summer party. She falls into depression and decides to stay silent about what happened. As the school year goes on, Melinda knows that she will have to face her biggest fear: to speak. Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak, uses numerous archetypes and allusions to put a powerful impact on readers. These archetypes and allusions make Melinda’s struggles relatable to real life problems and situations and reflect universal

Language is a method in which individuals communicate in order to get their opinion across to the listening party. Language is the tool which ideas can be conveyed in various ways. Typically, language is referred to verbal communication, however, it ranges to all methods of communication i.e. sign language.

Throughout her writing, Jody Heymann establishes certain patterns including appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos. She establishes ethos by referring to “our government". This indicates that even though she is being critical, she is doing it on behalf of the audience. Then immediately in the next paragraph, she provides information that establishes her as an expert. She says she has “collected data" and has worked in projects associated with two prestigious universities. Without question, her voice is an informed one. Perhaps Heymann’s strongest appeal to logos is when she frames her viewpoint not as a women’s rights issue but as an economic one. She develops her argument for several paragraphs with facts and figures, especially from the data

In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson used stereotypes throughout the book. Stereotypes the school into groups Like the Jocks, Cheerleaders, marthas and goths, I see those same stereotypes in the movie Mean Girls.

In the “Out Siders” written by SE Hinton, set in the 1960’s, is a novel focused on Two Stereotypical youth gangs, the greasers (east side people who are poor), and the Socs (Westside people who are rich). SE Hinton has included many themes throughout the novel, as the story develops around youth conflict between these two stereotypical youth sides, and how a death could mean so much to both. This is shown as SE Hinton communicates the themes, Stereotypes, family, and empathy throughout “The Outsiders”.

Courage When someone goes through something really tough it can be really hard to be courageous again, but if they want to feel stronger, little acts of courage go a long way. The book Speak is by Laurie Halse Anderson and focuses on a girl that went through something horrible. She had to be courageous and finally stood up for herself. Everyone in the school hated her and gave her looks, but she didn’t give up, even though it got very hard. Courage is needed for different reasons and different people, sometimes it can be talking to someone, going somewhere, or standing up for yourself.

What would you do if the person you care the most about was suffering from depression? In Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the narrator, Melinda Sordino suffers from depression and insecurity after being molested by a senior, Andy Evans. Over time, her emotions change positively. In her art class, she was assigned trees as her project to express emotion. In this novel, trees speak for her because they represent life, Melinda’s growth, and being unable to speak.

Stereotypes can be defined as a standardized conception enveloped to hold a special meaning upheld and thought by a group or collection of people, and they impact our society in many ways (Stereotype). For example, in an interview with Guy Raz from NPR, Jamila Lyiscott says that “And it occurred to me in that, had I been speaking with my family, who’s Trinidadian, or with people in my community who speak black English vernacular, that his women would have made not seen the same worth and value in terms of my intellectual capacity or just me.” (Lyiscott). This shows and explains that people, in particular a lady that had complimented her upon her English, that this lady may have been holding a stereotype against Lyiscott’s community and may not have expected this sort of articulation from her. As you can plainly see, this shows that although stereotypes are not generally accepted by the public, they can still be held by a wide range of peoples.

When I was only a little girl, I had been told that true beauty came from within. Yet as I grew up, I noticed that looks mattered. From their attractiveness, race, age, or gender, anyone’s image was always up for scrutiny. Under those circumstances, I grew up thinking that if people were to judge me based on my appearance, that I should judge them the same way. Though, as I became older, I at some point learned that how a person looked wasn’t always in their range of control. A person simply isn’t born with the choice of picking what they look like, nor are they born with the choice of having a genetic disorder or disease. In that case, I believe that nobody should be defined purely based on what they look like.