My favorite book is Speak written by Laurie Halse Anderson. The book is based on high school freshman Melinda Sordino. The August before her freshman year, her and her closest friends attend a party containing seniors and beer. Melinda gets drunk and eventually walks outside to take a breath where she meets upcoming senior Andy Evans. After making Melinda uncomfortable by dancing with and kissing her, Andy pushes Melinda to the ground and rapes her. She calls 911 and gets the party broken up, but is too scared to speak up about being raped. Everyone finds out that she is the reason the party was busted, and her friends no longer speak to her. Throughout the story, Melinda faces the realities that are associated with being raped. She is now…
RAINN states online that “sexaul violcenc can have a psychological, emotional and physical effect on a survivor” (RAINN). Throughout the story Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson describes how a sexaul assult accident can impact one's daily life dramatically in many ways. The novel Speak, is a story of Melinda Sordino who was ferociously raped over the summer at an upperclassmen party and after the incident she calls the police for help and they arrive to find only a highschool party with illegal substances. Since no one knows about Melinda’s night, a majority of students who attend Merryweather High School in New York thinks she got everyone caught. In conclusion, Melinda loses connections with everyone which makes her feel like an outcast. Laurie…
“Every scar I have makes me who I am” proclaimed an anonymous author. Sometimes people make decisions that will stick with them for forever even if they don’t want it to. In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, she writes about a teenager named Melinda who goes through a ton of drama over the summer before and during her freshman year. A boy named Andy Evans sees Melinda and comes by her. Andy sees her and stays with her all night. Later through the night he brings her away from everyone else and rapes her. Melinda gets extremely scared and calls the police, Rachel (her ex-best friend) finds out she called the cops. Rachel then leaves her at the party and hates her, for calling the cops, from that moment on. In conclusion to this Melinda…
This passage from Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak shows how the main character, Melinda, has to face and overcome her biggest fear, speaking up against Andy Evans. When Melinda gets locked in the closet with Andy Evans, she is scared for her life. She sees him as “made out of slabs of stone”(193). Melinda still thinks of Andy as an invincible beast and she is still obscenly afraid of his strength. She envisions his hands as “enormous”(193). Therefore showing how frightening his size and physique is. She knows he can and will rape her again if she does not do anything about it. Melinda tries to scream but the “only sound [she] can make is a whimper” (194). Her best attempt at calling out for help comes out as a whimper. She uses the word “whimper” to describe the sound she made was as if she is a small animal, hurt by a larger predator, and that what is occuring in the closest.…
For a teenager, life is about the choices people make. Teenagers judge others for who they choose to hang out with, what decisions they make, and how they treat others. At the same time, the actions of others can also alter someone’s life. How people treat someone, what they say to them, and their other non-verbal communication can affect someone’s overall personality and ultimately their current identity. In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, this situation plays out with the main character, Melinda. She becomes an outcast and is ridiculed by her friends due to her 911 call over the summer during a party. Her friends and others believe that she called the police for no reason, and that she only was trying to end or ruin the party. However,…
In the novel Speak written by Laurie Halse Anderson the readers are introduced to Melinda Sordino, a freshman in high school who is suffering at the hands of another student. It is clear that through out the story that Melinda’s family is dysfunctional. Throughout the book Melinda’s parents do not hear her desperate cries for the help she so desperately needs. This is shown through the way the family interacts with each other, how Melinda’s parents respond to her signs of deep suffering, and how they handle the drastic changes in Melinda after experiencing such a traumatic event.…
Imagine a flightless bird, injured and alone in the forest, watching their flock fly away without them. This is what Melinda’s, the main character in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, life is like. Melinda was raped the summer before freshman year and no one knew, she then panicked and called the cops causing her peers to believe she ruined the party, and because of this Melinda isolated herself and became stuck in a void of depression, which caused her to be incredibly quiet and melancholy. Her friends and family do not understand what it is that is debilitating her and therefore do not do anything to help her, assuming that she cannot be helped out of her flightlessness. They all fly away from her due to the fact they see her as something that holds them back and assume it is her fault for not…
This summer I read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. The story begins with Melinda, the narrator, starting ninth grade. Everyone, even her old friends, won't talk to her. It's later announced that during the summer, Melinda called the police on a party and it got shut down. After this incident, Melinda became the most hated girl in her school. Something horrible happened to Melinda at the party that she hasn't told anyone about. She shuts herself in, withdrawing from school, her family, and any possibility of friendship. The reason that Melinda called the cops in the party was because she was raped. She becomes completely isolated and eventually becomes mute. Melinda’s emotional scar created by her experience leads her to cut class, steal passes, and cut herself. Very few people try to get her out of the shell, except for one of her teachers. At the end of speak, the same guy who raped her at the party strikes again. This time, Melinda says no, and this simple word makes her…
The theme is defined as a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work that may be stated directly or indirectly. In the first part of the novel “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” by Rudyard Kipling, the primary topic is courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The alternate topic is love triumphs over all. The primary reason for courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear is due to Rikki wasn’t scared for a long time when he saw Nag. The alternate reason for love triumphs over all is due to Rikki killed the snakes that tried to put the family to death and killed the eggs as well. In the exposition, we did learn that it’s is difficult for a snake to scare a mongoose. Let's see which theme is right.…
A deep deep darkness, swirling downhill through a dark and twisty hazy world hoping and hoping for someone to listen. This is what Melinda was hoping for. Hoping for someone to listen, to help, to guide. Melinda Sordino from the novel Speak was full of sarcastic wits and funny remarks. One problem. It is all in her mind. She doesn’t talk. Refuses to break her silence. Will not speak up. Melinda is practically a mute since the incident that that happened to her August of Melinda’s 8th grade summer. Melinda's attempt to break the social construct of conformity leads to her becoming isolated from family and classmates, as well as pushing her into a deep depression and painful silence.…
Communication is the way we express our feelings and show our thoughts. It is a major part of our day to day lives. In Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda goes through a rape at a party at the beginning of summer. She was raped by Andy Evens and called the cops on the party to tell them that she had been raped. Everyone got in trouble at the party and now blame her for what happened. She does not want to tell anyone what actually happened to her at the party and doesn't really want to talk to anyone about that night . Melinda can’t seem to communicate with other people she try’s many different ways to get her thought’s across and rarely speaks. Throughout the book Melinda uses notes, art that expresses herself and physical injuries to communicate her problems with other people.…
After reading the story, “I Can Speak” by George Saunders, many readers would happen to realize that this story is not like every other story that is just picked up and read. In order for someone to fully apprehend the story, reader must stay consistently focused on the text. The story is about a reply letter from the company for a compliant letter that was sent by a customer named Mrs. Faniglia to a company named KidLuv Inc. regarding a product manufactured by the company known as I Can Speak!™. I Can Speak!™ is a robotic mask that the parent glides over their baby’s head and functions by responding to something in more advanced manner than corresponding to the baby’s age.…
It makes the setup of the novel or the movie. The theme is where the novel takes place or is where it is. “What is real? How do you define real? If your talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain”.…
In America, there used to be unfair laws and regulations regarding labor. Children are put to work in harsh conditions, conditions often deemed difficult even for adults, and are forced to work ridiculous hours. Florence Kelley gave a speech at the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia on July 22, 1905. In her speech, Kelley uses repetition, pathos, imagery, logos, and carefully placed diction to express how child labor is morally wrong and inhumane.…
Literature let it be a poem, short story, or novel has a central theme. The theme is the author 's way of explaining a situation, topic, or an idea they feel strong about getting across within their writings. Usually, the title of a short story’s paints the correlates to the theme or themes of a short story. These literary elements are plot, point of view, tone, setting, character, and symbolism. I’ll be using two key literary terms that give focus to the themes of this short story. The setting and symbolism used within the story are key factors that give the ready a clear picture true journey the old African-American woman is taking on.…