Speak Book Vs Movie Essay

The novel Speak, written by Laurie Halse Anderson is about a girl, who gets raped in the summer before the start of her freshman year in high school and the book follows her as she tries to cope with the depression that comes that kind of violation. This book was turned into a movie; and released early in the early 2000’s and when adapting books to film, a lot of information and details are lost in the process. When comparing Speak the novel and Speak the movie, the noticeable differences are; the character relationships, Melinda’s character, and Andy Evans and Melinda’s dynamic.

There were many differences in the characters' relationships with each other. For instance, Heather and Melinda’s connection were very different from book to film.

But the novel does a better job of really depicting the depression Melinda underwent after being raped. There are a few key points the book makes that the movie does not. For representation, in the novel, Melinda skips school a number of times; from going to the mall, to getting donuts in the morning, all the way to wandering around the hospital for the day. While the movie does show Melinda in the hospital, it only shows that she lay in a bed, but not looking around. Relating to this; she also doesn’t cut class as often as is shown in the book. In the novel she takes Ms. Hairs hall pass notepad, so she could spend more time in her secret closet without getting in trouble; while the movie doesn’t show this at all. Another thing that was changed from novel to film was when Melinda started a thread on a bathroom stall wall saying, “Guys to stay away from” and adding Andy Evans name to the list, and many other girls respond in accord with her and telling their own stories. While in the movie all she writes is “Foreign exchange students are ruining the country.” This was a major risk, as it shows that Andy Evans has violated more girls than just one, which is made known in the book but not quite as clear in the film. With these changes, Melinda’s depressed character isn’t made known as strongly throughout the