Royale Halse Anderson Speak

689 Words2 Pages

When doing things with friends and family, do you always ask for their consent, and what happens when you don’t? The book Speak is a story about how Melinda experienced rape by one of the most popular boys at school, Andy. The book tells how Melinda couldn’t tell anybody, even her family and friends, of her fear of ridicule and bullying but wanted to speak about what happened to her at the party that started this story. The author, Laurie Halse Anderson, teaches the reader the importance of expressing a person’s feelings and opinions through speaking throughout the book. When Melinda had a stressful and embarrassing encounter with Andy at the cafeteria, she tried to run but got stopped by Mr. Neck, who said, “Where do you think you’re going?” Melinda stays silent, not expressing anything; the …show more content…

Talking is important communication, and Melinda’s situation is not her fault. But her environment, in which she lives, makes her parents willing to help, but Melinda does not believe so, and her not believing in the people willing to help, her environment, and not talking makes Melinda’s life much harder for herself and the people around her. Later on, in the book (Chapter Little Writing in the Wall) Melinda does not say it, but on the girl’s bathroom wall, she writes, "...Boys to Stay Away From. The first entry is the beast himself: Andy Evans.” Melinda slowly but steadily starts expressing her thoughts and emotions. Soon after, Melinda explains everything that was happening to her and what happened at the party to her friend Rachel, who happened to be dating Any Evans. Melinda told Rachel how she got raped. Rachell acknowledged it, but when Melinda says it was Andy Evans that did it, Rachell says, “Liar!”. “I can’t believe you. You’re going to be jealous. You’re a twisted little freak and you’re jealous that I’m popular and I’m going to the prom, and you lie to me like this.” (Chapter

Open Document