Popularity In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak
Popularity being harmful seems like an oxymoron. Popularity is something so many people strive to have- to be respected, accepted, admired, even envied. But when that need to ‘fit in’ turns sour, most people never see it coming. The book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, shows the detrimental side of popularity not often considered by kids, and rarely mentioned in books. Speak is about a girl named Melinda and her first year in high school, where, after being raped by a popular kid, experiences bullying, exclusion, depression, and a myriad of different issues, in addition to not speaking. So Melinda withdraws into herself, indirectly because of popularity. Popularity in Melinda’s high school plays both a complicated and consequential
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It is that popularity is ultimately unfulfilling. This is proven in multiple ways by Heather, Melinda’s “friend”. Heather friend-dumps Melinda so she can fit in more with the Marthas, a popular group, but at the end of the year regrets it and comes bellycrawling back to Melinda for help. They have one last conversation in Melinda’s room when Heather asks for Melinda’s help decorating the venue for prom, where these words are said: “... she hates being a Marthadrone... ‘This whole year has been horrible- I hated every single day’” (Anderson 177). She is Heather, and Heather is bemoaning the fact that she is a Martha, saying that she hates it and that the whole year was horrible. Heather hates being a Martha, being “popular” because the Marthas make her do all the work. Doing all this work, though, has negative impacts on the rest of Heather’s life. As Melinda finds out, “Her grades are all the way down to Bs because of the time she has to spend waiting on her Senior Marthas” (Anderson 177). This shows how being popular can permanently affect you, and damage other parts of someone’s life. For example, bad grades and being a servant for the Marthas, or being preoccupied with something else, can lead to being very stressed, and stress has lots of negative impacts. Also, bad grades in high school can lead to stress over college, which has even more of an impact on someone’s life. These pieces of evidence show that popularity is unfulfilling for everyone, and will not help anybody later in
It is that popularity is ultimately unfulfilling. This is proven in multiple ways by Heather, Melinda’s “friend”. Heather friend-dumps Melinda so she can fit in more with the Marthas, a popular group, but at the end of the year regrets it and comes bellycrawling back to Melinda for help. They have one last conversation in Melinda’s room when Heather asks for Melinda’s help decorating the venue for prom, where these words are said: “... she hates being a Marthadrone... ‘This whole year has been horrible- I hated every single day’” (Anderson 177). She is Heather, and Heather is bemoaning the fact that she is a Martha, saying that she hates it and that the whole year was horrible. Heather hates being a Martha, being “popular” because the Marthas make her do all the work. Doing all this work, though, has negative impacts on the rest of Heather’s life. As Melinda finds out, “Her grades are all the way down to Bs because of the time she has to spend waiting on her Senior Marthas” (Anderson 177). This shows how being popular can permanently affect you, and damage other parts of someone’s life. For example, bad grades and being a servant for the Marthas, or being preoccupied with something else, can lead to being very stressed, and stress has lots of negative impacts. Also, bad grades in high school can lead to stress over college, which has even more of an impact on someone’s life. These pieces of evidence show that popularity is unfulfilling for everyone, and will not help anybody later in