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Impossible knife of memory analysis
Laurie halse anderson speak introduction
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Shreya Shirodkar
Ms. Lane
American Literature
January 17, 2014
Laurie Halse Anderson: Changing the Scope of Young Adult Fiction
How do you write about the major, live-changing events of people you've never met? How do you write about sensitive issues in an engaging, but still thought-provoking way? How do you write about your own demons so that others do not follow your path? Writer Laurie Halse Anderson could provide the answers to these questions. Written at a time when difficult topics, such as sexual harassment, were just beginning to be spoken about, her stories were a combination of her struggles and the struggles of teens across the country. Through her gift of storytelling, Laurie has brought previously taboo topics, such as date rape and depression, to the attention of teenagers and adults worldwide.
LIFE
Shockingly, this world famous young adult novelist did not always enjoy writing. Born in Potsdam, New York in 1961, Laurie initially had trouble reading and writing, but learned and eventually excelled in both as a result of the guidance she received from supportive teachers. Laurie specifically thanks her second grade teacher, who helped her realize that writing was “cool” (Anderson) during a lesson on haikus. Despite her newfound appreciation of writing, Laurie still didn’t want to become a writer; instead, she wanted to become a doctor ("Laurie Halse Anderson")! Unfortunately for her, Laurie was not very good at either mathematics or chemistry.
For her final year of high school, Laurie decided to do something different. As part of a student’s exchange program, Laurie traveled to Denmark to study, where she had to work on a pig farm. Her experiences in Denmark helped her to grow into an independent young woman. After...
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... home from WWII. Late at night, Laurie would hear her father shrieking, having nightmares about the war. As her father’s condition worsened, Laurie grew increasingly detached from the man she once knew and loved.
Recalling the pain of that period in her life, Laurie wrote the story The Impossible Knife of Memory. In the story, the main character Hayley is attempting to take care of her father, who has PTSD. It can be assumed that some of Hayley’s experiences were actually Laurie’s own experiences. Today, Laurie has moved on from the past and shares a good rapport with her father, who unfortunately still suffers from PTSD (Deutsch).
Throughout her youth, Laurie suffered from a disease of her own: body image issues. She was made of fun by her peers and was even called “Baby Hippo” (Anderson). For years, Laurie had an “unhealthy relationship with food” (???)
“Laurie Halse Anderson.” Contemporary Authors Online. Gale, 15 May 2008. Contemporary Authors Online. Gale. Web. 16 Nov. 2009
Speak, by Laurie Halse anderson is novel about a girl known by the name of Melinda Sordano.In the novel Melindas transforamtion as the main protagoinst is represented by a tree. Three ways in which a tree represents Melinda are through the strugle to find who she is, her growth, amd life.
Annemarie is a normal young girl, ten years old, she has normal difficulties and duties like any other girl. but these difficulties aren’t normal ones, she’s faced with the difficulties of war. this war has made Annemarie into a very smart girl, she spends most of her time thinking about how to be safe at all times “Annemarie admitted to herself,snuggling there in the quiet dark, that she was glad to be an ordinary person who would never be called upon for courage.
This internal battle to transform the war mindset of a soldier to the norms of society is exemplified through Norman’s actions. First, this is displayed through the situation at the Drive Thru. Norman’s distance from society is shown when he attempts to order from Mama’s Burgers, but does it incorrectly, as the procedure has evolved. This evolution reflects the transformation of the world that occurred while Norman was in the war. Thus, when he returns he is stuck in the past, and not confident in how to proceed into the future. This disparity with time is again echoed with Norman’s compulsion of guessing the time. This symbolizes that he is mentally frozen in time, unable to adapt. In addition, while Norman drives through his town, he sees a change in the lake. “The lake had divided into two halves. One half still glistened, the other was caught in shadow.” (O’Brien, 150). This division among the lake represents the divide Norman saw among the world he lived in as he attempted to adhere to the norms of society. The glistening half of the lake represents the life outside of the war, shining and drawing attention. Meanwhile, the side caught in the shadows depicts the side of Norman that is still within the war, hidden in darkness, unpresentable. Additionally, this reflects the silence that Norman was forced into about his memories of the war. His thoughts had to be hidden in the darkness. This is reinforced as Norman imagines telling several people, such as his Dad, Sally Gustafson, and the voice over the intercom, his story about almost receiving the Silver Star award. However, he does not. “He could not talk about it and never would. The evening was smooth and warm.” (O’Brien, 153). In his suicide itself, this oath of silence is present. Norman left no note and no explanation. Overall, Norman’s death raises the issue of
...lot of war veterans, a confusion that illuminates the mind and eventually lead to self-destructing acts. The theme of confusion looms in and out of The Things They Carried as a setback of living the life of war.
Laurie Halse Anderson is trying to tell us that personal appearance doesn’t matter, be beautiful on the inside. It doesn’t really matter what you look like, it’s what you do. If a scientist invented a fertilizer that would solve world hunger, nobody would care what they look like. Melinda is like a seed, doesn’t look like much but something beautiful is inside. Melinda gave up on personal appearance the night of the party; she used to dress nice but after the rape she didn’t. Andy used the “you were asking for it” card a lot, I feel that Melinda tried to make herself look “trashy and ratty” so she wouldn’t be so “vulnerable” (but really Andy is just a pig). Onto the Martha Clan, they thought they had to be perfect, but that made them into monsters
This novel is Bragg’s memoir of sorts as he recounts the story of his life and the relationships he established throughout its entirety. It commences with Bragg’s interaction with his estranged father, who is on the brink of death. In what appears to be an attempt to reconcile for his absence, Bragg’s father gives him boxes full of books, which Bragg deems “the only treasure I truly have every known” (Bragg 13). Following this bequest, Bragg’s father proceeds to tell him the tale of how he individually and intimately killed a man while a soldier stationed in Korea. Throughout his account of the experience, it is clear that the recollection is painful. While in Korea, he clearly desired to return to a time before the war because he dreaded that it would alter him as a person: “It was what he feared, more than dying: losing part of himself” (Bragg 18). After Bragg left his father’s abode, he expresses his own nostalgic recollection of how things once were. He remembers a brief time in which “we were something very like a family…Our daddy came home almost every evening and we sat around a table and ate supper…my momma would run over, wiping, fussing, and my daddy laughing and laughing and laughing. It was nice” (Bragg 54). Bragg seems to pine for this sense of family which evaded him so early in his life. Although Bragg and his father long for two utterly different times and circumstances, they are similar in that they do indeed demonstrate a heartfelt yearning for times that were
Kessler, Carol Parley. "Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1860 -1935." Modem American Women Writers. Ed. Elaine Showalter, et al. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1991. 155 -169.
A big "celebration" dinner was planned for John's going away. All of his family and close friends came to enjoy good food and fellowship before leaving in the morning. His parents were to drive him to the airport where he would fly to the army base. The same base his father trained at many years ago. John's father was proud of his son, but also a little concerned, for he realized the seriousness of this war.
Before his death, more than sixty after the Battle of the Bulge, his father finally began sharing more intimate, painful wartime experiences, as we walked together around the Northern Portland neighborhood where they lived most of our lives. The walks were long even though the distances were short. His walker rattled and his feet barely cleared the cracks in the sidewalk as we ambled along. His memory ebbed and flowed, as past blurred with the present, and the new stories revealed a darker side of war.
In the last 50 years, eating disorders have become more and more prevalent in the United States. Society is starting to realize that they do not just affect teenage women, but men and children as well (Caralat, Camargo & Herzog, 1997; Lask, 2000). Solitaire is a novel originally published by Aimee Liu was she 25 years old. It was considered America's first memoir of anorexia, with Liu describing her battle with anorexia as a teenager in the sixties. Gaining is the sequel to this groundbreaking novel, following Liu as she talks with her fellow (former) eating disorder sufferers. In Gaining, Liu talks with one specific person who is my main focus; Hannah Winters. This essay can be considered a case study of Hannah, looking specifically at her life, symptoms, diagnoses, and comparing them to the research that has been done on similar topics. From her story, Hannah could be considered a poster child of eating disorders; following very closely to the diagnosis of anorexia given in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (APA, 2000) and dealing with many of the typical issues that those who have eating disorders deal with.
In the novel, “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson. Melinda, the protagonist, does not join a group at Merryweather High School. Lots of people join but don’t get into the group on the first day, but some people get lucky and get it. Once someone joins a group they will change, and probably won’t be the same person you knew before they join the particular group.
Vera Brittain, a student at Oxford University, called the day the war started, the most thrilling day of her life. Her fiance, close friend, and brother had joined the army. Brittain had a constant anxiety that the war would consume her fiance's life and it would come between their love for eachother. Wanting to do her duty in war, Brittain tried to knit for soldiers, but it did not satisfy her lust to contribute. Later she decided to leave Oxford to become a nurse. Being a nurse was nothing what she imagined it to be. What she witnessed in the hospitals changed her forever. Close to Christmas, Brittain’s fiance announced he would be home for Christmas giving her hope and happiness. Her fiance passed away on December 23rd destroying her life.
In the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda is entering high school completely alone. She has no friends and she has no one to turn to, even the people she doesn’t know hate her. All of this is happening to Melinda because she called the cops at an end of summer party and no one even bothered to ask her why. Something terrible happened that night at the party and memories of the event terrify and haunt her. There’s something about that night that she tries to forget, something she tries to not remember. Throughout the book you see ways Melinda is coping with her trauma. In the process of it all her nightmare, Andy Evans, comes and attacks her again, but this time Melinda isn’t so quiet about it. By the end of the book, Melinda uncovers her secret that has been trapped in her thoughts. Anderson develops a theme that if something traumatic
In “When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision,” Adrienne Rich discusses her view on the role of a woman writer by using examples of her own personal experience. As I look at my life, I can begin to understand how my own personal experiences can reflect the situation of many young women. I am tormented by which role I am supposed to play in today’s society. Am I to become the traditional mother and housewife? Should I flaunt my sexuality and become the female that the media is constantly portraying? Maybe I should be myself and follow my dreams to become an independent career woman, if that is even what I want. Young women in modern society are searching for the right answers to these questions and are basing these answers on their family, friends, and the media.