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In the novel Speak, the author Laurie Halse Anderson uses the protagonist, Melinda, to show the importance of verbal communication in healthy relationship. Laurie Halse Anderson includes events and altercations in which it is clear to the reader that it could’ve been avoided by communicating.The author brings the reader through a process that the protagonist goes through in the story of thawing out of the frozen shell she’s in where she can’t talk. Laurie Halse Anderson uses repetition to emphasize the importance of her face being frozen. In addition, she also includes events that Melinda faces with her family that shows lack of communication. Another way Laurie Halse Anderson shows how verbal communication is needed is by walking the reader through instances where if Melinda spoke her side and what she felt, there could’ve been a complete different outcome. Using different tactics, it is evident that Laurie Halse Anderson is emphasizing the importance of communication in her novel Speak. Laurie Halse Anderson uses repetition to emphasize the importance of the protagonist, Melinda, being frozen around the mouth area. This creates an idea in the reader’s mind of Melinda being frozen and slowly thawing out throughout the novel. The author states, “I can’t stop biting my lips. It looks like my mouth belongs to somebody else, …show more content…
The author uses repetition to emphasize the importance of the protagonist, Melinda, being frozen around the mouth area. Another way the author shows the importance of communication is by including events in the novel in which there is a strong lack of communication with Melinda and her parents. A final way Laurie Halse Anderson shows how verbal communication is needed is by walking the reader through instances where if Melinda spoke her side and what she felt, there could’ve been a complete different
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.
Many people in the world are like puppets. They move to the commands of others. Once in awhile, the puppet obtains a will of its own and moves against the crowd. Ivy, from Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, became that one puppet who moved against the crowd, with the crowd being social constructs. A social construct is something that the society makes true even though to other people, it has no value. 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
In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson the main character Melinda learns many things. Melinda used to be shy but now because of big events and different people she is confident. Because of the rape situation, Melinda was very shy and self-conscious. People like Ivy and Heather helped her to get through it even though they may not have realized. Melinda also began to realize who she is.”There has been some progress in this whole tree project...I've gone through different phases.” (pg. 151) Which her tree project shows She became confident and learned to stand up for herself. As you can see, it is better to express your feelings than to keep it a secret. Even if it’s a secret that’s so hard to show, you will be better off if you are open to the world. If you keep all of your feelings inside then you will end up like Melinda used to be.
Excellent communication skills can help an individual to further elaborate his or her thoughts, and which will allow their thoughts to be used in greater creations. In chapter 7, Class, Control, Language and Literacy, Finn speak about different types of languages, such as implicit language. Implicit language is “relying on shared knowledge, feelings and opinions when speaking to one another” (Attitude 82). In many families’ implicit language is spoken. Conversation spoken in an implicit language lacks detail that further explains the content of the conversation to an outsider. Within households, children are taught gender role tasked by their parents, but lack detail explanation; “language is either absent or implicit and context dependent when parents teach their children to do such things” (Attitude 115). Children are not given full detailed of how to perform a specific task when given, causing the task to be done
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is story written from the perspective of a freshman from Merryweather High School named Melinda Sordino. Everything was going well between her and her friends until the summer before high school; Melinda called the police for a party (and busted everyone who attended) that she knew wasn’t permitted. From then on, her relationship with some her closest friends, including Rachel, quickly grows apart and she tries to avoid eye contact with everyone. The only place where Melinda feels safe is inside her mind, where her thoughts take over. Nevertheless, Melinda meets a new student from Ohio named Heather and she tries her best to form a bond with her. Later in the story, their friendship drifts apart and Melinda is
Imagine something really bad happened at a party while in high school, so the police get called because what happened was illegal. Before they arrive, everyone starts to yell because they think that whoever called the police called them because there was alcohol at the party. Now the friends have turned on that person. But at least there are still the parents to talk to, right? Nope. The person’s home life is so messed up that they barely talk to their family. Most of the time when they do, it is through a couple of notes on the refrigerator. If there is no one to talk to then why talk, right? This is exactly how Melinda feels in the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. In the story Melinda goes to a high school party before the summer of her freshman year. At the party, there was a senior that took interest in Melinda. Melinda and the senior, Andy, started kissing but Andy took things to the next level. When Melinda said, "no," Andy kept going. Melinda ended up getting raped. Because of this Melinda called the
“When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time.” A statement said by Mr. Freemen to Melinda. Melinda Sordino, the main character of Speak, loses the ability to communicate after she is sexually assaulted at a party. Instead of speaking out about what happened to her, she bottles up her pain inside, hoping that she doesn't have to speak about it. Anderson shows us through Melinda’s interactions with her classmates that by speaking, we gain power over how we live our lives.
In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson we learn about Melinda’s depression. Melinda has an event occur in the beginning of the story that causes her to become very depressed and it leads to self harm. “I open up a paper clip and scratch it across the left side of my wrist”(Anderson 87). Melinda does this when she is home in her closet. Melinda is a teen the struggles with depression which is common for many teens. Melinda does not handle her depression well, she keeps it to herself and resorts to self harm by cutting and by biting her lip. Melinda, like most of teens, needs to find someone to talk to and to let someone know what is going on in her life. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s book Speak you learn about Melinda’s depression and
In Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, there are several important themes such as adolescence, growth, and depression. Anderson’s 1999 novel revolves around Melinda Sardino, a Syracuse teen attending Merryweather High School. Her friends have abandoned her and she struggles with depression, resulting in her lack of speech. Melinda hides away most of her school year in a janitor’s closet, but comes out in her art class where she works on various projects involving a tree. She has a deep secret, one that she can’t tell anyone. The author uses symbolism to convey anger and sadness throughout the book. The various forms of the tree hidden throughout the book provide insight into Melinda’s mental and social life.
In the book Speak written by Laurie Halse Anderson the main character, Melinda, faces a serious problem. She went to a party over summer where there was underage drinking going on, she called the cops. The classmates of hers got mad at her and she lost all her friends even though they didn't know the reason she really called the cops. Her problems are caused caused by two major conflicts, Man vs Self, and Man vs Man. Man vs Man is a conflict because she was raped at the party, we don't find this out until later in the book but when we find out it changes how you feel for Melinda. Man vs Self is another conflict because she would never tell anybody what actually happened, once she starts talking about it she doesn't have as hard of a time in school. The climax of the story is when rachel almost gets raped again in the old janitor's closet during prom. This is the
Agnes’ most prominent character traits are revealed through constant repetition. When she called the police station to report the murder plot she had overheard, the repetition in the dialogue exchanged between her and the officer revealed a significant amount of information about her mentality. Agnes often stutters when she is anxious, and repeated her name, “Mrs. Stevenson, Mrs. Elbert Stevenson” (11), twice. She also spoke in quick, short phrases often beginning with “And…” (11), to add one more small piece of information to an already long and extended thought. The excessive repetition gives her dialogue a nervous, almost hysterical quality, and highlights her unstable mindset in her anxiety. While providing her address in great detail to the police, she eventually realizes the repetition in her own words, and begins to suspect she is the victim of the murder about to
In Laurie Halse Anderson’s book Speak, Melinda keeps her thoughts and feelings inside because she is too scared to speak up.The fact that Melinda’s trapped feelings causes self destruction suggests that sharing one's issues is the right thing to do. Melinda explains, “I opened up a paperclip and scratched it across the inside of my left wrist”(87). Self harm displays depression because of an event that might have happened. In Melinda’s case she did go through a traumatic experience last year that she denies happened everyday. If someone is depressed to the point where they have self harming thoughts they should tell someone they trust because that person can provide support and help them recover. Melinda tells us that the first hour of blowing
Melinda has a big secret she has kept from everyone. In the story Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson the theme that your past can haunt you in the present is revealed through the characters actions.
In speak, the author shows that Melinda should talk to someone about their problems. Reading this book makes me realize how important it is to have friends and talk to people about your
In the quote, “I undid the lantern cautiously- oh so cautiously- cautiously (for the hinges had creaked) I undid the lantern.” This quotes is not structured so that you learn the madman is cautious, it is instead meant to create a suspenseful atmosphere having the reader start to contradict the words he or she reads as he or she reads the over and over again. Continually, in the short story “The Landlady” Dahl also uses repetition, the repetition of ideas. In the quotes, “ That’s funny, he thought suddenly. Christopher Mulholland. It rings a bell.” and “I’ll think of it in a second. I’m sure I will.” and it is clear a small portion of the constant repetition of the mystery behind the outcome of Mr. Mullholland and Mr. Temple stay at the bed and breakfast. By constantly dangling this not so mysterious mystery in front of the readers it creates a curiosity that leads to suspense. Despite the different ways both authors use repetition, one through ideas and the other though words, the use of repetition leads to the same result as suspense filled atmosphere. Despite this, repetition was not the only factor the assisted in the depiction of suspense, the use of the unknown and the