Settings, Characters, Conflict In this novel, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the author takes us on a journey into the world of high school, where social anxiety, family struggles, and personal secrets can be unavoidable. This story takes place at Merryweather High, where ninth grader, Melinda Sordino, is trying to find her true belonging through the people around her. After a traumatic experience at a party in the summer, her life is turned upside down, and she must move past the hard challenges of high school while struggling to take care of her mental health. As Melinda’s story moves along, we listen to her deal with the main conflict of her story: the struggle to find her voice and speak the truth in a world that is determined to keep …show more content…
Anderson describes, “The hallways are alive with the sound of lockers slamming, kids laughing, and teachers yelling”(Anderson 25). This quote shows a chaotic and extremely overwhelming environment Melinda has to adapt to. Her school’s expectations of popularity are seen when she states, “cliques and crowds” (Anderson 30), that prove how she is silenced from the first day. Moreover, the empty yard symbolizes her emotions of being silent and the disconnection between her and her peers that contributes to a constant thought of Melinda’s depression. Through this setting at Merryweather High School, the author describes ways that the environment of students on campus can reflect on a person’s way of expressing one’s voice and personal experiences. The main characters in Speak, specifically Melinda and Heather, play an important role in Melinda's journey to express herself and speak her truth. Melinda is a complicated and indescribable character when she says, “I’m a freshman in high school, and I’m a victim” (Anderson, 42). This illustrates her struggle to move through high school with a traumatic past, also making her a reserved but sympathetic
The book Speak by Laurie Anderson is about how Melinda Sordino--- an “outcast” girl overcome the trouble in her life, her growth in mind and how she learned to speak up for herself.
Helen Keller, against all odds, became a mouthpiece for many causes in the early to mid-twentieth century. She advocated for causes such as building institutions for the blind, schools for the deaf, women’s suffrage and pacifism. When America was in the most desperate of times, her voice stood out. Helen Keller spoke at Carnegie Hall in New York raising her voice in protest of America’s decision to join the World War. The purpose of this paper will analyze the devices and methods Keller used in her speech to create a good ethos, pathos, and logos.
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.
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.
Adversity affects the lives of many individuals. Through facing adversity people tend to show their true selves. In the novel “Speak” by Laurie Halse-Anderson, the main character Melinda, faces a few different types of adversity. One form of adversity that she faces is that she was sexually assaulted. Another type of adversity that Melinda goes through in this novel is that she loses all her friends and starts to lose her family as well. Throughout my life, I have faced many different types of adversity, one major thing that I have dealt with in my life is depression. Those who face adversity in their life can choose if they want to face it or to ignore it, and the outcome will prove what they chose to do.
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.
Her father works out of town and does not seem to be involved in his daughters lives as much. Her older sister, who works at the school, is nothing but plain Jane. Connie’s mother, who did nothing nag at her, to Connie, her mother’s words were nothing but jealousy from the beauty she had once had. The only thing Connie seems to enjoy is going out with her best friend to the mall, at times even sneaking into a drive-in restaurant across the road. Connie has two sides to herself, a version her family sees and a version everyone else sees.
Everyone has had that one moment, or maybe a couple. The moment when their life changes forever, the moments when they know they will never be the same person they were yesterday. These moments are turning points that play a large role in a person’s identity.
“Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson presents Melinda’s (a teenage girl) life as she drifts through her adolescent years, where she struggles to overcome internal depression, as well as typical issues, involving her social life. Melinda’s life in an obscure world, where enigmatic challenges constantly clog her path towards a normal and healthy life, she feels lost and betrayed. Likewise, the boy that raped her attends the same school as her, causing her to have constant memories of the event. Thus, Melinda’s defective life compromising of rape, lack of communication, and depression mirrors the lives of many teens around the world. In addition, this book revolves around the dominant theme of adolescence, resulting to an effect of a realistic- fiction novel.
When life becomes overwhelming during adolescence, a child’s first response is to withdraw from the confinement of what is considered socially correct. Individuality then replaces the desire to meet social expectations, and thus the spiral into social non-conformity begins. During the course of Susanna’s high school career, she is different from the other kids. Susanna:
Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is first-person narrative about overcoming our habits and misfortunes. It takes place at Merryweather High over the course of a year. The main character, Melinda, is a fourteen year-old, who is just starting high school. She is introduced, at first, as someone who doesn’t speak to anyone, almost, at all. All the other people in the high school seem to detest her. They say hateful things to her and throw objects at her. She seems not bothered by any of this. She is in her own being.
Sojourner Truth was a Civil Rights Activist, and a Women’s Rights Activist 1797-1883. Sojourner Truth was known for spontaneous speech on racial equal opportunities. Her speech “Aint I a Women? “Was given to an Ohio Women’s Rights convention in 1851. Sojourner Truth’s was a slave in New York, where she was born and raised and was sold into slavery at an early age (bio, 2016)
Speak, is a novel written by Laurie Halse Anderson, about a girl entering high school, for the first time, with a heavy secret weighting on her. Melinda Sordino begins freshman year at Merryweather High School, being a complete different person. Over the summer, Melinda and her friends went to a senior party, where Melinda ended calling the police. This caused her friends and the people at the party to socially reject her, even though they didn’t knew that before the phone call, Andy Evans raped her. Due to the phone call, Melinda enters high school without friends and having to see Andy Evans everyday. Her only “safe” place in the entire school is art class, where Mr. Freeman is the teacher. Mr. Freeman is the only teacher Melinda doesn’t dislike or avoids, because he listens and understands her, but also shows her the value of honesty.
Likewise, teenagers relate to the main characters in the novels, "Speak" and "Twisted" by Laurie Halse Anderson. Students go to school, and eat alone for lunch because of their appearance. In comparison to, Melinda saying, "I have entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitudes. And I don't have anyone to sit with. I am Outcast (Speak, 4). She's realizing she's different from others. Also, Tyler revealing, "I figured if I killed myself, everybody who treated me like dirt would feel awful" (Twisted, 190). Melinda and Tyler suffer from adolescence of being a teen, which is why Anderson crafts a theme of facing conflicts to become a better person, and speaking out about a terrible fear.
When an individual hears the name Abraham Lincoln, one might think of many descriptive adjectives that can be associated with the former president: honest, tall, compassionate, a leader, and many more. However, how many associate impeccable listener with Lincoln? There is a possibility that some might, but there is an even greater possibility that many individuals did not know he possessed this characteristic. Although many struggle with true listening, it is apparent that Lincoln excelled in listening to others, but most importantly, he knew how to listen inward – to himself.