According to Vince Lombardi Jr. “The difference between a successful person and others is not the lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. Throughout the texts the theme is revealed through conflict, plot, and characterization. The theme of finding one’s voice and speaking out against violence and victimization is developed through the use of conflict, plot, and characterization in Speak, The Art of Resilience, and If. Speaking up and not isolating yourself can help oneself overcome problems in life that can cause difficulties. Bottling up feelings that should have been talked through can help oneself be more confident. For instance, in the beginning of the book, Melinda is running out of the lunch room after …show more content…
Tragic events can leave scars but they should not be allowed to define how someone lives their life. After being assaulted, Melinda decides not to talk about it and bottles up her pain, hoping to forget it. “It is easier not to say, shut your trap, button your lip, can it” (Anderson 9). In this quote, Melinda is forthright about her belief in silence. This statement defines Melinda’s behavior for most of the novel.The quote shows that Melinda does have voice she just does not want to use it outside of her own head. While Melinda recognizes that her isolation is harmful, she takes steps to reconnect to others and get help. Speaking up can get you somewhere in life.”Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, or being hated, don’t give way to hating, and yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise” (Kipling lines 6-8). This quote means things will happen to you, people talk, and you are going to lose friends, however, you cannot let this affect you. For the theme of finding one’s voice, the texts might be showing how speaking up and pushing through the awful names people call you can help you be more confident and competent. Finally, characterization is another tool Anderson and Kipling use to develop the theme of finding one’s voice and identity. The theme of finding one’s voice and speaking out against violence and victimization is developed through the use of conflict, plot, and characterization in Speak, The Art of Resilience and If. Throughout the texts the theme is revealed through conflict, plot, and characterization. All in all, the three texts are about struggling in life and the only people you have turn against you. In addition, when life gets rough, you are strong enough and capable to overcome any conflict you
Rachel was Melinda's friend all of middle school but she turned out to be a complete jerk to Melinda. Heather was a fake friend who only stuck by her side until she was accepted in a ¨cool¨ group. David Petrakis is a nerd who is almost in every one of Melinda's classes. They grow close mostly because they both have no friends, but he is a true friend. Towards the end of the group Melinda starts to come out to Rachel about why she called the police, but Rachel just got even more upset. Melinda thankfully realizes how bad of a friend Rachel is on page 198 ¨I don't want to be cool. I want to grab her by the neck and shake her and scream at her to stop treating me like dirt. She didn't even bother to find out the truth – what kind of friend is that? ¨ Melinda gets close to her art teacher. Art is the one class that Melinda enjoys because she gets to be with her new friend Ivy. Ivy and David are the only people Melinda has, but that is enough for her. On the first day of school Melinda recalls being the only person sitting alone on page 134.¨ I see a few friends people I used to think were my friends—but they look away. ¨ Positively Melinda has found the two only true friends in her school and starts to become a more optimistic
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a story written in the first person about a young girl named Melinda Sordino. The title of the book, Speak, is ironically based on the fact that Melinda chooses not to speak. The book is written in the form of a monologue in the mind of Melinda, a teenage introvert. This story depicts the story of a very miserable freshman year of high school. Although there are several people in her high school, Melinda secludes herself from them all. There are several people in her school that used to be her friend in middle school, but not anymore. Not after what she did over the summer. What she did was call the cops on an end of summer party on of her friends was throwing. Although all her classmates think there was no reason to call, only Melinda knows the real reason. Even if they cared to know the real reason, there is no way she could tell them. A personal rape story is not something that flows freely off the tongue. Throughout the story Melinda describes the pain she is going through every day as a result of her rape. The rape of a teenage girl often leads to depression. Melinda is convinced that nobody understands her, nor would they even if they knew what happened that summer. Once a happy girl, Melinda is now depressed and withdrawn from the world. She hardly ever speaks, nor does she do well in school. She bites her lips and her nails until they bleed. Her parents seem to think she is just going through a faze, but little do they know, their daughter has undergone a life changing trauma that will affect her life forever.
The plot of the book, Speak is that Melinda Sordino, a freshman at Merryweather High went to an end of the summer party with some of her friends. Things take a turn for the worst when a senior named Andy Evans sexually assaults her at the party without her friends knowing about it. Melinda is frightened, afraid, and does not know what to do so she calls 911 busting the party, and causing her friends and everyone at that school to hate her, even if they don’t know her.
A human being is a complicated entity of a contradictory nature where creative and destructive, virtuous and vicious are interwoven. Each of us has gone through various kinds of struggle at least once in a lifetime ranging from everyday discrepancies to worldwide catastrophes. There are always different causes and reasons that trigger these struggles, however, there is common ground for them as well: people are different, even though it is a truism no one seems to able to realize this statement from beyond the bounds of one’s self and reach out to approach the Other.
Discuss the ideas developed by the text creator about the role self-respect plays when an individual responds to injustice.
Instead of proclaiming her feelings out loud, she suppresses them. The result is a series of recordings, which describes her life, and the things she wishes she could change.
As the story progresses clues to why people hate her so much are revealed. There is mentioning of a party that Melinda, some how, ruined. People say that they or someone they knew got in trouble at the party. Melinda wants to forget that party. She blocks it out of her head. At every mention of that night Melinda cringes.
One does not simply pass through life without the presence of suffering and tribulation. This theme is delineated in the excerpt “The Street” from the novel Black Boy, written by Richard Wright. The memoir focuses on the life of a young Richard Wright and the hardships he has come to face within his childhood. During his adolescence, his family was struck by poverty due to the absence of his father, he was left alone to face many responsibilities, and was even forced to fight for himself against violent antagonists. The theme, life is an assessment of one’s true strength is portrayed through the literary elements of conflict and plot.
... resolution and transformation is never lost, both sets of authors focus on the development of the relationship as where the healing takes place. Additionally, there are correlations to be found with the Native American peacekeeping process. Both philosophies use the circle process to maintain a spatial relationship of ritual, colloquy and the restoration of K’e—the restoration of dignity and worthiness—to all individuals and communities who have suffered atrocities related to protracted violence as well as a restoration of harmony and balance. Lederach and Lederach manage to challenge the linear and traditional models of conflict transformation and healing with an alternative approach of aural and sonic metaphors. This father and daughter team gives a graceful regard to the notion that love, forgiveness and healing are effective and worthy peacemaking frames.
By stating how other people behave or interact, the author offers a great chance for readers to interpret fairly for themselves what the reason for any conflict may be, or the nature of any essential contrast between the narrator and other adults in the story. In the story, there are many self-righteous opinions from people, which seem to be ironic to the readers; For example, her mother’s aggressive attitude of showing off her daughter, her piano teacher’s self-praise claiming him as “Beethoven.” All of the narrations including conversation clearly depict a different characteristic between the narrator and other people. For instance, a conversation occurs between the narrator and her mother when the mother criticizing a girl who seems similar to the author on TV which reveals dissimilar understanding for both of them to each other’s behavior. At first, the daughter speaks out for the girl by questioning her mother by saying “why picking on her […] She’s pretty good. Maybe she’s not the best, but she’s trying hard.” The daughter actually is defending for herself and reflecting that she feels uncomfortable with her mother’s disregard of her hard work. She wants to get her mother’s compliments instead of her criticisms. However, her mother response of, “just like you,” and, “not the best. Because you not trying.” Here, her mother doesn’t really answer her question, instead wants her put more effort on trying, neglecting how much she has tried before. However, in her mother’s perspective, she has never tried hard enough. By narratively stating the conversations she has encountered, readers perceive a strong implication of the reason for a future conflict between her and her mother.
In this essay, I will analysis the method that each author employs to inform the reader of courage, discuss some aspects of courage explored in the texts and look at how courage differs between the genders.
Despite progress being made in alleviating the gender gap, and breaking the ‘glass ceiling’, gender continues to play a role in the perception we have of the ability a leader has to be successful and have an equal share of the real power in our country. Three women that have pioneered changing this perception are Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and Sarah Palin. These three women have displayed true, successful leadership throughout their careers. All three women are of strong character and display a high level of self confidence. These ladies also are driven by their deep-rooted values and beliefs. This is Self-Concordence. In the text Organizational Behavior, the authors described self-concordance as the degree to which peoples’ reasons for pursuing goals are consistent with their interests and core values (Judge & Robbins, 2011). Believing in one’s self is critical to being a leader. Being confident that one is capable of meeting the goals that have been established for her and by her, improves her motivation and this can be perceived by others positively, making the ‘can do’ attitude spread. This is called Self-Efficacy Theory- An individual’s belief that he or she is capable of performing a task (Judge & Robbins, 2011).
According to the American Psychological Association, resilience is the process of adjusting enough in the presence of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or major sources of stress such as financial and workplace problems, family/ relationship problems, and severe health problems or workplace and financial stressors (American Psychological Association, 2013).
Rees begins with the by filling the audience in on how the world is “getting easier and better,” and medical and technological advances have lead to the rapid growth of the population. (25) The advances and “progress” we have made has lead to a long and comfortable life. The author then lists multiple failed management endeavors, which had initially thought to alleviate or reverse environmental issues. He cites that the reason for the failures is that the models did not reflect the stress of the human demand, “The sheer scale of human demands on nature has pushed many socioecosystems into unfamiliar and often unfriendly territory.” (27) Ecologists have supposed that when socio-ecosystems lose their
what is Grit? Grit is firmness of character or having an indomitable spirit, in other words grit is believing in ourselves and having hunger to succeed. I believe grit is something real and truly makes a difference in anything you do. In the passage the “Significance of Grit” Angela Duckworth speaks about how some people have a trait that leads them to succeed over others and she calls it grit. Me being a student,I can totally see where she is coming from because you need to have an internal flame that roars inside of you to see what you are actually capable of. I had never really heard of the word grit in the academic world until taking this class, I thought grit and being smart where the same thing but that’s not the case.I believe everyone shares this trait but they show it in different tasks Many times I have been resilient and gritty in an academic environment without even knowing.