“Just do it, it’ll be fine.” or things like “Nobody will know, trust me” or even “If you don't do it we can’t be friends anymore.” These are all examples of peer pressure, a problem the whole world faces. Peer pressure is a big problem, and also is in the book Speak too. Peer pressure is the act of peers trying to make you do something, whether it be good or bad. Peer pressure can vary from friends wanting one to help them in doing good deed, or wanting one to do something bad like steal or disobey one’s parents or elders. Peer pressure in the book had put the main character Melinda Sordino through a lot, not knowing where she belonged and who was really there for her throughout the story. Peer pressure in schools and in everyday life of …show more content…
Her friends always asked her for help doing some things, good and bad, but she did her best to stay away from that kind of things. Like on page 106 in the novel when her friend Heather says “When you get through a life sucks phase, I’m sure lots of people will want to be your friend. But you just can’t cut classes or not show up to school. What’s next-- hanging out with the dopers?” and Melinda replies “Is this the part where you try to be nice to me?” and Heather replies “You just have a reputation.” This shows how negative peer pressure affects people, like how Heather thinks that she will end up hanging out with druggies, because she has already been pressured into skipping school and class. Andy Evans, the guy who raped her, always put himself around her, almost as peer pressure to not tell anyone, because he knew he could overpower her and that he was intimidating to her. Although Melinda had gone through a lot in her first year of high school, peer pressure had affected her, and she tried to seem invisible to everyone, until she finally figured out where she belonged and who she was, then exposing Andy Evans which allowed everyone …show more content…
One should remember that not all peer pressure is bad, although that is mostly what you see today. Good peer pressure needs to be done more, because why would you want to make someone do something bad, instead of helping them do something good and impacting them, because honestly who would want a worse world rather than a better one? Truly the way to improve our lives as human beings lies on peer pressure, it is at the core of ways we can make a change for a better, and not more for the
They both know that their daughter will break if they were to split up. To keep in mind absolutely no one knows anything about Melinda's attack, and if her parents were to find out she knows that they would split. On the first day of high school Melinda finds herself alone, along with another new girl named Heather. Heather is a new student hoping to find a popular group of friends. Heather and Melinda set out to find a good group of friends, but finally settle on a group of preppy and rich kids named the Marthas. The girls are not wanted by the group, and now they have really have nowhere to go. They only have each other. Sadly in the beginning half of the book Heather realizes that Melinda is too depressed for her, and not good enough for her. Sadly Heather dumps Melinda leaving her by herself. Consequently Melinda starts to quit school. She goes to the mall multiple times and starts to not care, once she is caught she starts to self harm herself. Melinda becomes severely depressed as shown on page 81... ¨ I just want to sleep. The whole point of not talking about it, silencing the memory, is to make it go away. It won't. I'll need brain surgery to cut it out of my head. ¨ This shows how Melinda just wants to be left alone. Being raped was one of the biggest incidents that affected her mental life plus her social life. On page 61 the text says ¨ I get out of my bed and take down the mirror. I put
There are many examples of social conflicts throughout the book, and the clans or groups in school are social constructs. The main character, Melinda, struggled to fit into these categories causing her to be the Outcast to society. Nobody seems to want to truly befriend Melinda, causing her to be alone. Although Melinda is ostracized by her society for not fitting in, Ivy becomes a crucially important friend by still helping Melinda as she struggles with her social and emotional conflicts. Even though Melinda’s society rejected her, Ivy became an important friend to Melinda.
Gormly, Kellie B. "Peer Pressure - for Students and Adults - Can Be Positive." TribLIVE.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
Throughout the book we can feel the struggle that a high school student can go through when they are misunderstood, discriminated and looked down upon. High schools and especially North American high schools can be ruthless and brutal about the people that somehow do not fit in. In the beginning of the book it was mentioned how everybody was part of specific groups or “clans” and that someone who did not fit into a group was doomed. I believe, that even though the main topic in the book is rape the author wanted us to think about more than rape and sexual assault in high schools. The fact that Melinda felt guilty, even though she was a victim of sexual assault shows us how hard it is for high school students who do not feel like they belong somewhere to speak up. The best example we can see of this is when David speaks up against Mr. Neck. By speaking up for the right of free speech in class he proved that speaking up is sometimes the best way to fight against an unfair authority. Mr. Neck was constantly shown as a character that picked on and oppressed Melinda, so even a brief act of going against him shows Melinda’s fight against
Luckily, for Melinda she found the strength she needed in a special person and project to support and encourage her expression. So many victims of sexual assault are trapped inside their minds, kind of like the way this book reads. Like a series of letters, trapped from within someone else's mind. They are afraid to tell their story, for fear they will not be believed. But finding that one outlet that builds your inner strength gives you the courage to face your fears. The character transformation that Melinda made was remarkable. She started her freshman year out as an outsider and ended up feeling confident and rejuvenated.
Melinda was an outcast and loner in high school who was overwhelmed, fearful, and confused with her life and her environment at school. She was always silent in class and afraid to speak in front of people. Many students today might feel the need to fit in with other people so they wouldn’t have to be looked down upon. As we take a look at Melinda’s life we’ll be able to see how she handles her daily conflicts. In the book, Speak, Melinda Sordino, an incoming freshman at Merryweather High, starts her year off with a terrible start. She’s stuck with a mean history teacher, by who she calls Mr. Neck and a whole bunch of other weird teachers like her English teacher of who she calls, Hairwomen, because of her crazy, uncombed hair. Her favorite teacher would seem to be her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, because he seems to be the nicest and most reasonable. Every student, even her ex-best friend, Rachel Bruin, gives her nasty looks and treats her rudely. All this trouble started when Melinda called the cops at an end-of-summer party. Everybody thinks she did that just to bust them and get all the people in trouble but instead, she called the cops for something more terrifying. During the night of that party, she was raped by a senior who goes to Merryweather High, Andy Evans, by who she calls IT or Andy Beast. She was too scared and didn’t know what to do so she called the cops. Because of this, now everyone in school is disgusted and hateful of her. Though most of the students didn’t like her, she did become sort of “distant” friends with Heather, Ivy, and her science lab partner, David Petrakis. With all the drama, sadness, and conflict involved in Melinda’s life, she still seems to manage and finish the school year without ...
Peer pressure is doing something that is not quite normal, but your friends pressure you into the situation because they do it. This definition of peer pressure is something that is always happening, especially with the world changing each day. Things like tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, are all possibilities that peer pressure is related to. However, in the texts “Shooting and Elephant” by George Orwell and “No Witchcraft for Sale” by Doris Lessing demonstrate peer pressure among many thing; however, there are many solutions resulting in good things compared to the bad things that have happened. Solutions to peer pressure in these texts could be many things, but the three that would work best would be: ignore the person, walk away, and lastly, know that you should not do anything you do not feel comfortable with.
... instead of following the majority. The issue of peer pressure can relate to teens, as they are in constant pressure to be ‘cool’ or to be in the ‘in’ group. It does not really promote individualism, so people cannot develop their own ideas but rather follow the leader of their group.
“Rape is always the rapist's fault. People never "ask for it" because of the clothes they wear or the way they act. If sex is forced against someone's will, it's rape” (Nemours). Melinda meets Andy at the party and she started having a good time with him and moves with him to the darker parts of the woods, and even though Melinda went on her own freewill with Andy to the woods, he still forced himself on her when she clearly was trying to escape- which ultimately would be consider date rape. Throughout the novel, Melinda has a hard time speaking of what happen to her and does not want to acknowledge the problem. At the end of the marking period Melinda encounter Andy Evans, who she hates, and refers him as IT, “IT sees me. IT smiles and winks. Good thing my lips are stitched together or I’d throw up”. Melinda is under pressure since she has been living in this nightmare. Her rapist is a guy at her school, and he’s talking to her former best friend. The rape changed Melinda and forces her to change though violence. It changes her physically and mentally, such as not speaking, not sleeping, not even cleaning her hair and other things that are noticeable but nobody really seems to really listen or see what Melinda is going through. Melinda states,” I just want to sleep. The whole point of not talking about it, of silencing the memory, is to make it go away, it won’t. I’ll need brain surgery to cut it out of my head” (Anderson, 81-82). This quote shows Melinda’s struggle trying to forget what happen to her at the party, the memory will stay with her, even if it is below the surface. At this point, Melinda is realizing that silence and repression will not lead to forgetting what happened. When she says she want to sleep she means two things which are: she actually wants to sleep but is not able to
"Parents and teachers often miss children's nascent understanding of group dynamics, as well as kids' willingness to buck to the pressure," Killen explains. Children begin to figure out the costs and consequences of resisting peer group pressure early. By adolescence, they find it only gets more complicated."
Society is an intricate system that entails numerous factors to an individual’s growth as a person. These factors can range from simplistic to complex; a child’s upbringing in a particular neighborhood to a person determining a meticulous career. Both of those situations adhere to the ideology of human interaction and communication. Human interaction and communication can lead to events that place humans in the midst of peer pressure; this idea of peer pressure will play a contributing part for all humans and certainly can override a person’s moral beliefs. To ascertain the strength of peer pressure on humans, numerous experiments were conducted that placed humans in undesirable situations along with historical events that apply to peer pressure.
When an individual take on the behaviors, attitudes, and styles of their peers because of the pressure of fitting in, this is peer conformity, also known as peer pressure. In most cultures the amount of time we spend with our peers tends to increase, as well as the effect they provide for support. Peer influence can start as soon as the third grade for some an...
However, peer pressure depends more on who the peers are than the pressure that comes from them. In other words, the negative effects of peer pressure can only be blamed on those who act as bad influences. So, it follows that the type of people we surround ourselves with determines whether our experiences with peer pressure are positive or negative. If we surround ourselves with good influences and people who share our values, it is more likely that the peer pressure that we are affected by will be beneficial. It is not peer pressure itself that can be dangerous. Rather, it is the people who are around
Peer pressure can be both a positive and negative influence and will challenge us do things whether they are right or wrong. This is left for you to determine. Peer pressure can influence several areas in your life like; academic performance, who you choose for friends, it can influence who you mat choose for a boyfriend or girlfriend, it can influence decisions about sex, it may change your feelings about alcohol and drug use, and it can even determine your fashion choice.
When you are a teenager and you have friends that ask you to do something for them and you do not then they get mad. Then think you are a loser and that is ever person's nightmare, to not be liked. Peer pressure is no piece of cake. It is like choosing the wrong thing for what you think is right at that very moment, and then regretting it afterwards, because your parents find out. But most would not care about what they do wrong or right. Unless there is a chance of parental disappointment, and a lot of the time that is the case.