The Silence: Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

The book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson Is full of symbols that connect to the real world. Symbolism is important when writing a book because it helps the reader connect and relate to the main character easier and gives the reader a better view of what the main character is or may be going threw. For instance Melinda’s thanksgiving turkey bone sculpture is a clear symbol of her family troubles and her tree in Mr. Freemen’s class changed further on in the book due to her slowly opening up and coming

self esteem with it, she must choose to speak up against her rapist when he tries to take advantage of her again. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, the uses of the author’s life, the events that show the time period, and the philosophy of speaking up all contribute to why she wrote the novel. Laurie Halse Anderson faced many struggles as a young adult and shares her battles through the endeavors of the main characters in her books. From the beginning, “Anderson wasn’t the best student, spending much

Melinda Sordino, the protagonist of the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, has a very oppressing life. She is constantly being put down and is treated as absolute dirt. For example, one of the girls in Heather’s “clan” the Marthas says, “She’s creepy. What’s wrong with her lips? It looks like she’s got a disease or something, (45)” because Melinda’s lips have a lot of scabs on them. These comments enslave Melinda, as she lets them define who she is as a person. Melinda does not need to let

Two Short Answer Questions The title, Speak, is the key to Melinda changing her life back to normal. I believe the thesis of this novel is that if you’re sexually assaulted, speak up. Many people believe that if you hold the dreadful memory inside of you, soon it’ll just lighten away, but that’s in no way the case. We see that in depth at Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak. The title is the tip off. Melinda’s at a high school party, where Melinda gets raped by Andy Evans, a high school senior student

choice to make, and at the time she didn’t know it was an impossible choice. At the time she wasn’t thinking about her friends shunning her or her high school calling her a loser, she was only thinking about saving herself, but from what? Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson portrays Melinda Sordino’s freshman year at Merryweather High School in Syracuse, New York. During the summer Melinda went to a party and called the police which caused all of her friends to ignore her. Melinda's only friend is Heather

Coming-of-age novels focus on the transition from childhood to adulthood, with the main character going through a conflict and maturing from it. In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda Sordino a is a high school freshman transitioning from her difficult first year of high school to her second year. Through the novel, readers go through Melinda's freshman year learning about her conflicts, secrets, discoveries, and opinions of the world around her. In this novel Melinda's conflict is

Have you ever spent nights where you slept with hot tears rolling down your cheeks? Days where you wake up with the same nightmare as yesterday? Imagine that all you desired was someone to be beside you, to have a friend. “Speak”, by Laurie Hase Anderson reveals the bitter life of a high school outcast, Melinda Sordino. This story uncovers how Melinda manages to confess an appalling truth to a group of friends that despised her ever since she called the cops at an 8th-grade summer party. Melinda

Speak When a close person suddenly stops talking, expressing, and doing what they love, what can be done? The book Speak is a story about Melinda and how she experienced rape by one of the most popular boys at school, Andy. The book narrates how Melinda couldn’t tell anybody about her trauma, even to her family and friends, because of her fear of ridicule and bullying. By narrating the story of Melinda, the author, Laurie Halse Anderson, teaches the reader the importance of expressing a person’s

Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson “Speak” is book about a young girl who loses her voice after being raped and slowly gains it back over time. Laurie Halse Anderson uses an internal voice throughout the book to show the havoc that is attacking Melinda’s mind. This adds to the theme of being outcast and isolated because the she has no one to really talk to. One reason she is an outcaste is that she called the cops at the part where she was raped. This leads her to lose her group of friends “the Plain

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. Sexual violence can cause a survivor to have psychological, emotional, and physical effects. These effects aren't easy

as well as its development. Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak incorporates symbols as a means of adding depth to the story, and also acts as an instrument to connect the plot and theme. The use of these literary devices in Speak demonstrate the protagonist, Melinda, in her struggles with denial and her mental illness. The author utilizes symbols such as mirrors, the mouth and lips, and trees to expose Melinda’s repressed memories and establish her improvement. Anderson uses the mirrors in Melinda’s

your mind when you think of a tree? Trees appear a lot in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. They are one of the most frequent symbols in the novel. Symbolism is giving certain symbols deeper meanings to portray something in the text. In Speak, Melinda’s paintings of trees are symbols, as well as the tree in her front yard. Anderson uses trees to show Melinda’s different phases and her growth. Melinda’s paintings of trees are symbols in Speak. Her artwork describes how she feels. After the awful pep

very substandard relationship with his father, Walt McCandless, once he found out the truth about the divorce between his father and his ex-wife. Likewise in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda, the main character rarely communicated to anyone, including her friends, teachers, and her own family. Throughout both books, Into the Wild and Speak, the main characters, Chris McCandless and Melinda Sordino, both undergo problematic and complicated relationships with their families as a result of lack

Breaking the Silence Anika Borra Sexual violence is very common all around the world. In fact, “1 in 3 women have at some point experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime” (Joshi 23). In the books Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and Sold by Patricia McCormick, the main characters are victims of sexual violence. Lakshmi and Melinda's struggle to stand up for themselves in the aftermath of sexual violence is the issue faced by millions of individuals around the world. Speak: Alienation

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson shows the more realistic nature of parental neglect and the consequences of it. Juliet and Melinda both experience emotional parental neglect, which causes them both to turn to other sources of comfort. Juliet was able to cope with her