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.
In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda, the main character, goes through a series of events that affect her in the long run and shape her identity. Melinda goes through an eventful evening at a party and keeps it to herself for a long period of time. This is just one of the things that affects her. Some other turning points in Melinda’s life is when she finally tells someone about what happened at that party, as well as losing her friend Heather. These are all things that
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happen in the book that send her in a different direction. At the party, she calls the police for help after she gets raped, and they arrive quickly to a teen party with illegal alcohol. Because none of her friends know about the rape, they believe she called the cops to bust them, which leads to her becoming an outcast in her first year of high school. Another big turning point in Melinda’s life that affects her identity is when Melinda tells her ex best friend Rachel about the rape at the party. Melinda tells Rachel about the party to make an effort to warn Rachel about her new boyfriend, Andy Evans (the boy who raped her). This is the spot in the book where the problems Melinda had in the beginning of the book start to go away. Melinda’s turning points in her life shape her identity. Later in the book, Heather, a new girl from out of town and Melinda’s only friend, does not accept Melinda’s role as an outcast and does her best to win popularity. For that reason Heather tells Melinda during lunch that they can not be friends anymore unless she changes who she is. The main turning points are the party, losing Heather, and telling Rachel about the party. Although Melinda has many events that could be considered turning points, these three had the most impact. One of the main turning points was the party. After the party Melinda loses all of her friends because she calls the police, gains horrible memories about the rape, and gets a bad reputation throughout the whole school. Specifically, all of Melinda’s friends before the party are now her ex friends, and they now want nothing to do with Melinda. Because she called the cops and did not tell them it was because she was raped, they think she just wanted to bust the party. This is the reason why she is an outcast in her 9th grade year. The party is also a very poor memory of Melinda’s that she is constantly trying to forget about. On page 28, Melinda experiences anger towards her actions: “‘I can’t feel my fingers. I shake my head. Another girl chimes in. ‘My brother got arrested at that party. He got fired because of the arrest. I can’t believe you did that Asshole.’” During the book, many people bring up when Melinda called the police. One girl at the pep rally won’t let it go and continues to talk about it. On page 28 Melinda says, “I have worked so hard to forget every second of that stupid party, and here I am in the middle of a hostile crowd that hates me for what I had to do. I can’t tell them what really happened. I can’t even look at that part myself.” These quotes show how people will not let Melinda live down her actions during summer break. Eventually, everyone knows Melinda was the one who called the cops, which makes her develop an unsatisfactory reputation. On page 27-28, Melinda and Heather are at a pep rally to support their football team, when a girl sitting behind them recognizes Melinda: “The girl pokes me harder. ‘Aren’t you the one who called the cops at Kyle Rodger’s party at the end of the summer?’” An unpleasant reputation leads to her being an outcast, a hated person, and depressed which are all things that shape her identity. For these reasons, Melinda loses all of her friends, gains awful memories, and develops imperfect reputation at school, the party is a turning point in Melinda’s life. Corresponding with the party, Melinda has kept information about the rape to herself, which caused her stress until she was finally able to tell Rachel. Melinda’s previous friend group separates from each other because of Melinda’s actions during the summer. Rachel, a former best friend of Melinda despises her, and wants nothing to do with her. When Rachel and Andy: the rapist, get into a relationship, Melinda debates on whether or not to tell her what really happened at the party. When she runs into Rachel in the library, everything finally spills out of Melinda. However, because of Rachel’s anger at Melinda and her trust in Andy, she does not believe that Andy actually raped her. This is a big turning point in Melinda’s life because this is where all of her problems she started out with in the beginning in the year are now starting to go away. On page 183 Melinda tells Rachel why she called the police at the party “I didn’t call the cops to break up the party, I called- I put the pencil down. I pick it up again- them because some guy raped me.” Since Melinda finally gets out what she has been holding in for a long time, Rachel has to face the truth about Andy’s past. Rachel decides to trust Andy instead of Melinda, so when Melinda tells her Rachel freaks out at Melinda. On page 184 this is what Rachel said to Melinda: “‘Liar!” She stumbles out of her chair and grabs her books off the table. “I can’t believe you. You’re jealous. You’re a twisted little freak and you’re jealous that I’m popular and I’m going to the prom and so you lie to me like this.” Rachel soon realizes Melinda didn’t make this up and breaks up with Andy Evans. By the end of the book Melinda is able to open up and talk to people about her problems. Other than Rachel as person who Melinda opened up to was Mr. Freeman: the art teacher. Melinda didn’t verbally open to him, but throughout the year she was express who she actually was instead of closing herself off like she normally does. As well as Mr. Freeman Melinda’s parents have been really closed off of her life until Melinda tells her mom everything that happened to her that year. Melinda grows from this experience and gets a little confidence to open up. This is a turning point that affected her in a positive way. Also, by the end of the book she is not such of an outcast anymore and such of a hated person. Since her ex best friends figured out what happened at the party they were able to forgive her for calling the cops. At the end of the book they amply that she is forgiven and she goes back to her old friend group. Not only do her friends forgive her, but most of the school forgives her and supports her. Since her whole perspective of a person changes and her reputation changes this is a big turning point in Melinda’s life. In addition to the party and telling Rachel about the party as a couple of the turning points in Melinda’s life, she also experiences losing her only friend.
Heather was a new student at Merryweather High School, and she instantly made friends with Melinda through sitting in the same seat on the bus on the first day of school. Melinda excepted Heather, who will soon betray her later in the book. The lunchroom is where Heather tells Melinda that they can not be friends anymore. On page 105 in the book Heather says to Melinda, “‘When you get through this 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?’” This is where Heather states her reasons towards leaving Melinda. The only thing Heather did not mention is that in order to be in the group the Marthas at school, she can not be friends with Melinda anymore. Heather would rather be popular than be a good friend to Melinda, who accepted her when she was new. Also, on page 107 Heather rejects Melinda and tells her she can not hang out with her anymore. Heather says this to Melinda: “‘Look, you can’t eat lunch with me anymore. I’m sorry. Oh, and don’t eat potato chips. They’ll make you break out.’” This quote is very important because it helps explain why Melinda was able to stick up for herself. Because Heather was so harsh on Melinda, the next time Heather needed something Melinda could say no. Finding her voice after so long that it had been missing was an important event that happened to her. To add on to Heather breaking her friendship with Melinda, she was left with no one to talk to. When Heather and Melinda became friends in the beginning of the year Melinda finally had someone to be around, speak to, and motivate her. Because Heather and Melinda are no longer friends Melinda is affected in a bad way. Melinda goes back to being the outcast of the school, being depressed, and closed off.
Because of Heather Melinda becomes more closed of than she ever was and more depressed. Heather could have helped Melinda through this tough time, but instead chose to leave her. Losing Heather is a turning point in Melinda’s life that affected her in good and bad ways. Losing Heather is a turning point in Melinda’s life because as an outcast, she finally has a friend and feels like someone cares about her. When Melinda and Heather are not friends anymore she no longer has anyone to talk to, but Melinda also learns how to stick up for herself. It has been shown that In Melinda’s life there are specific things that turn her life in a different direction like the party, telling Rachel about the party, and losing Heather. The party affected Melinda more than one way. After the party Melinda loses all of her friends because she calls the police, gains terrible memories about the rape, and gets a miserable reputation throughout the whole school. Because of the party Melinda is just not the same as she was before, she slowly gets depressed and becomes an outcast. Also, because Melinda had such a unacceptable experience at the party she decided to not tell anyone about it. She tried so hard to forget what happened, but when Rachel (her ex best friend) gets together with Andy Evans (boy who raped her) she makes the decision to warn Rachel about him. Melinda finally tells her about him, but she does not believe Melinda. Rachel soon realizes Melinda was telling the truth and breaks up with Andy. This is a turning point in Melinda’s life because she finally opens up about the party and this is where her life starts to turn in the right direction. Also, losing Heather as a friend gave Melinda a voice to stick up for herself. When Heather needs help she turns to Melinda, but Melinda realizes Heather is just using her and does not actually care about her. At this part of the book Melinda finds her voice to tell Heather off. This affects Melinda in a positive and negative way because when she loses Heather she loses her only friend, but when this happens she finds her voice and now is able to stick up for herself. Without these events in her life, Melinda would be nowhere near where she is now. These turning points changed Melinda’s life in bad and good ways like losing her friends, getting bad memories, getting a bad reputation, being able to open up, and finding her voice. Everyone has these moments during their lifetime, that change who they are for the better or worse. These moments change a person, they change the way they act, and they change the way they think. These moments, no matter how small shape one’s identity.
Throughout the passages, Laurie Halse Anderson establishes the Central Idea through the use of Characteristics and Imagery, revealing that the loudest words are the ones that aren’t spoken.
A turning point is an impact or a quick turn in somebody’s life. People face turning points every day, but it’s not often that these turning points change their lives as well as the world they live. Jackie Robinson, Feng Ru, and Gary Paulsen from the excerpts “ I Never Had it Made”,” Father of Chinese Aviation” and “Guts” all faced a challenging event that had an impact on their life and their country.
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.
Ever since the party, Melinda rarely talked to anybody, including her parents. Nevertheless, I noticed that during the second semester of the year she talked considerably more. “All right, but you said we had to put emotion into our art. I don’t know what that means. I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel.”(p122). This quote is from the third marking period when Melinda was talking to her art teacher Mr.Freeman. I believe that she wouldn’t have said anything had it been earlier in the year. “Stinks. It was a mistake to sign up for art. I just couldn’t see myself taking wood shop.”(p.146). This quote is another example of Melinda talking, this time to Ivy in the mall. I think these quotes prove that Melinda starts talking more as the year progresses.
I quit! These words can be attached to so many things in life. At times in life things seem to be different then they really are, for instance the thrill and the excitement of having a summer job or even successfully getting a first job. There are certain moments in a person’s life that will always have an impact on them one could call this a definitive moment or an epiphany. In the short story A&P by John Updike the main character Sammy has an epiphany in that he realizes that a moral line has been crossed in his working environment.
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.
Throughout this unit, we have read sections that revolve around characters reaching their defining moment. A defining moment is an event that typically determines a point of all subsequent occurrences, or when you embrace a situation that has given you struggle. In order to reach your defining moment you have to give yourself the opportunity to come out of you shell. For example, the main character in Here's Herbie, by Mike Feder and the speaker of Two Kinds by Amy Tan both portray an event that was their defining moment.
influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can
Speak, by Laurie Halse anderson is novel about a girl known by the name of Melinda Sordano.In the novel Melindas transforamtion as the main protagoinst is represented by a tree. Three ways in which a tree represents Melinda are through the strugle to find who she is, her growth, amd life.
Both characters change after an event that takes place in their life. In Speak Melinda changes prior to the raping. A change is evident, because during the meeting with her parents the principal says, “Melinda. Last year you were a straight –B student, no behavioral problems, few absences. But the reports I’ve been getting…well, what can we say?” (Anderson, 114). She must have been a straight-B student in the eighth grade, since none of her progress reports for the ninth grade year have all B’s. Not only Melinda’s grades change, but also her social status. She states, “I have entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don’t have anyone to sit with. I am Outcast” (Anderson, 4). She doesn’t talk to any of her friends from middle school except for Ivy, who she occasionally talks to. Tyler changes physically and mentally after doing the
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.
In the United States, a forcible rape takes place approximately every 6 minutes (Statistic Brain Research Institute). Melinda Sordino is the main character in Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel, Speak. Sordino nearly stops verbalizing after an unknown incident. Throughout the novel, this incident is revealed to be a rape. This occurrence takes place at an end-of-summer party, at which, after being sexually assaulted, Sordino calls the police, causing the party to end. As a consequence of not maintaining her friendships over the summer, Sordino starts her freshman year in high school as an outcast; therefore, she no longer socializes, nor does she have any friends. In addition, the relationships in her household are deteriorating as her lack of ability to express her feelings deepens. In the book Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson creates an extended metaphor for Melinda to help develop Melinda’s character. In the novel, she directly and actively compares her
She continues in this sequel to talk about the abuse she faced and the dysfunction that surrounded her life as a child and as a teen, and the ‘empty space’ in which she lived in as a result. She talks about the multiple personalities she was exhibiting, the rebellious “Willie” and the kind “Carol”; as well as hearing noises and her sensory problems. In this book, the author puts more emphasis on the “consciousness” and “awareness” and how important that was for her therapeutic process. She could not just be on “auto-pilot” and act normal; the road to recovery was filled with self-awareness and the need to process all the pieces of the puzzle—often with the guidance and assistance of her therapist. She had a need to analyze the abstract concept of emotions as well as feelings and thoughts. Connecting with others who go through what she did was also integral to her
An Event which changed my life, well when, I think back on my life there’s
Everyone has milestone days in his/her life that change the direction of his/her life for better or worse. Let me tell you one of my experiences that I will never forget from when I was 12 years old.