Anxiety or past events trigger people in many ways that impact their lifestyles. These themes are emphasized in director Jessica Sharzer’s version of Laurie Halse Anderson’s fiction novel Speak. Sharzer’s adaptation involves minor changes to the plot and characters. Themes from the original version of Anderson’s book are changed, but Sharzer’s film maintains most themes including some emphasized themes compared to others. The film version presents a girl who doesn’t speak much named Melinda Sordino due to a tragic stage of her life. Although Melinda remains, certain themes from the book were removed like communication with people who used to be close. In general, the director,s film highlights the novel’s theme using voice to speak up for oneself, despite the fact that the novel’s themes don’t recall the importance of family and relationships. …show more content…
Which is emphasized in the movie rather than the actual novel itself. In the beginning of the book, it introduces Melinda and how she starts school with a few people who dislike her or used to be friends with her including teachers such as Mr. Neck, a man who abuses authority. When Mr. Neck comes around there is bound to be trouble for Melinda. He creates trouble although he is a teacher and he misuses his right as one since he treats his students harshly. In the movie Mr. Neck is also harsh and abuses his right as a teacher. In the film he is in his class teaching and starts a debate about his child not getting the job of being a firefighter, then he turns hard headed when one student offends him because of their opinion. Mr. Neck later interferes with Melinda, making her school life a harder, not knowing what is going on with her life. Sharzer’s adaptation to Mr. Neck modified how he impacts Melinda’s life, causing it to be worse than it already
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.
The Changeable nature of life affects us all somehow. Whether it be moving to a new city, having children, or losing people that we love, it can affect people in many different ways. For example, in the novel, the main character Taylor Greer changes her name from Marietta and moves...
Communication is the very first thing one learns as soon as he or she is born, crying when something upsetting happens or laughing to show contentment. However, as one ages, they begin to realize that using words to express thoughts and feelings is a great deal harder than manipulating sounds and actions. Author Toni Bambara of “Raymond’s Run” and Lauren Tarshis of “Stuttering Doesn’t Hold Me Back” have similar views on the difficulty of speaking up. Bambara writes about a boy called Raymond who has Down Syndrome and communicates with others in a special way, as he cannot utilize his words. “Stuttering Doesn’t Hold Me Back” is an inspiring story regarding a young student facing the challenges of her disorder. Both writings consider the idea that we all have our own methods of conversing, and we need to accept and understand that it is normal.
In their articles, Chang Rae-Lee and Amy Tan establish a profound ethos by utilizing examples of the effects their mother-daughter/mother-son relationships have had on their language and writing. Lee’s "Mute in an English-Only World" illustrates his maturity as a writer due to his mother’s influence on growth in respect. Tan, in "Mother Tongue," explains how her mother changed her writing by first changing her conception of language. In any situation, the ethos a writer brings to an argument is crucial to the success in connecting with the audience; naturally a writer wants to present himself/herself as reliable and credible (Lunsford 308). Lee and Tan, both of stereotypical immigrant background, use their memories of deceased mothers to build credibility in their respective articles.
Speak starts with a young lady, named Melinda, attending her first day of school scoping out the school and staff without any friends. Melinda, being the quiet girl she is in the beginning of the school year, gains new friends, a new girl from out of town, and her art teacher. As the story progress, background on Melinda is revealed. She had lost her friends after calling the cops on the party because she was scared after being raped by a boy named Andy Evans. Melinda’s grades and relationship begins to dwindle down as the year goes on for Melinda forcing her to see the guidance counselor with her parents. She starts to talk a little more to her old friends as her new friend Heather has
In both the film and novel, "Speak" by Lauren Halsen Anderson uses literary devices to demonstrate the experience the protagonist, Melinda Sordino faced as a teenage rape victim, as well as the steps necessary to cope and move on with her life. Both film and book share a great similarity in the conflict that goes on, as well as the flash backs indicated throughout this piece of work. Also, the symbolism shaped by the protagonist makes it more clear to understand the tramautic event. Moreover, the novel and film appears to be both familiar in many ways due to these elements followed by examples.
...he story with the various characters. Melinda’s acquaintance, Heather works hard at finding friends and becoming popular, but in the end she turns away from Melinda. The story is about the high school years. Many times when we are growing up we can’t wait to get there because we will be treated as adults, but the truth is the problems that come along when we are older can be difficult. The various clans of students help present the theme by showing us that there are many different types of people. The popular cheerleaders, the jocks, the geeks and those who are just trying to fit in. Melinda transforming the janitor’s closet symbolizes her hiding her feelings and Melinda’s inability to speak and tell people what happened to her. High school can be fun but unfortunately through the eyes of Melinda it was a very hard time.
Allison has had a bitter past full of moments which have scarred her personality. She uses these and writes about the world that few are willing to admit exists. Many find refuge behind their gregarious nature and take comfort in religion or other bodies. However, that does not change the facts of what the world is and how it got there. Allison exposes her audience to these facts, and in the process, she shares her own view.
Speaking in Tongues, written by ZZ Packer, is a short story about a young girl who demonstrates extreme character change throughout the story. Tia Townsend starts out as an innocent, conservative church-going girl who grows and evolves into a rebellious teen. Through tone, setting, and a variety of metaphors, we are able to see how the different aspects of Tia’s life contribute to the overall plot. By connecting with the reader, Packer truly demonstrates how the struggles and experiences Tia went through ultimately shaped her as a character.
Individuals may or may not go through a situation where they would enjoy nothing more than to yell, scream, or even fight another person for something that he or she said or did. It is challenging to hold back such intense emotions, but it is the wise thing to do in order to avoid further conflict. In Carolyn Kizer’s “Bitch”, the speaker demonstrates holding back her emotions in front of her ex-lover. It was tough for her to do so because she wanted him to understand how she felt. Overall, Kizer establishes the importance of being the better person by holding back one’s feelings in order to avoid further consequences. She illustrates this through portraying the speaker’s true emotions, revealing information of her ex-lover, and showing how the speaker carries herself on the outside.
Instead of proclaiming her feelings out loud, she suppresses them. The result is a series of recordings, which describes her life, and the things she wishes she could change.
Tan was born to a pair of Chinese immigrants. Her mother understood English extremely well, but the English she spoke was “broken.”(36) Many people not familiar with her way of speaking found it very difficult to understand her. As a result of this, Tan would have to pretend to be her mother, and she called people up to yell at them while her mother stood behind her and prompted her. This caused Tan to be ashamed of her mother throughout her youth, but as she grew, she realized that the language she shares with her mother is a “language of intimacy” (36) that she even uses when speaking with her husband.
In Maxine Hong Kingston’s autobiographical piece “Silence”, she describes her inability to speak English when she was in grade school. Kindergarten was the birthplace of her silence because she was a Chinese girl attending an American school. She was very embarrassed of her inability, and when moments came up where she had to speak, “self-disgust” filled her day because of that squeaky voice she possessed (422). Kingston notes that she never talked to anyone at school for her first year of silence, except for one or two other Chinese kids in her class. Maxine’s sister, who was even worse than she was, stayed almost completely silent for three years. Both went to the same school and were in the same second grade class because Maxine had flunked kindergarten.
Social and internal dialogue is representative of the enculturation process that Laura and Miss Brill have been exposed to. Both of Mansfield’s short stories represent a binary: Laura’s realizations of...
Although told in an aloof and anonymous third-person, the narrativeis always shifting, almost imperceptibly, from an objective stance to less neutral observations which, because of their perspective or particular choice of words, appear to be those of Mrs. Kearney. (Miller,...