Speak Readers Response Anderson‚ Laurie Halse. Speak. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux‚ 1999. Print. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is about the protagonist Melinda Sordino and her journey through her freshmen year of high school. She started school with no friends but in the end she had more than she thought she would. In school she struggles with paying attention and getting good grade and her home wasn’t much better. She had a mother that was always working and a father that really didn’t care
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Seniors speak their Joys and Pains Ask a senior student to list down all the pains of being a Salay National High School student and he might fill out all the pieces of paper you give him. Here’s my list of joys and pains of being a senior student. First on my list of pains is PRESSURE. From a fresh fourth year students perspective‚ it’s hard to adjust to the new “senior” atmosphere due to the massive difference of pressure compared to being a junior! But still‚ I’m not complaining
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to speak out of the women’s problems and needs. Their desires always get lost before the grand narratives of patriarchy‚ even the national history and narrative rarely recognize the major contribution of the females in the texts or document. Whenever the woman is portrayed‚ she is put in the second position below the man. She is always kept silent. Identifying this issue‚ Indian critic and feminist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak asks— can the subaltern speak? in her essay ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’.
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It is not uncommon for a writer‚ a poet‚ or any artist to come down with fits of depression. After all‚ these are the people who examine the world and are constantly pondering what it presents them. And for some‚ their gift may have led to their demise. Many of the greats like Ernest Hemingway‚ Kurt Cobain‚ Vincent Van Gogh and David Foster Wallace struggled with deep depression and mental illness all their lives‚ their works and pursuits continuously exacerbating their state of mind‚ until they
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Langston Hughes’ “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is an immensely compelling poem that he wrote when he was around 17 or 18 years old. He was traveling to Mexico City‚ to spend a year with his estranged father‚ upon graduating from high school. Hughes’ poem has a very spiritual undertone that conveys his intended message with rhythm and attractiveness. Anyone who knew Hughes knew of his love for African Americans. He saw the beauty in his own people and they were the muse to a lot of his writings and
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Authors often use symbols when they want to portray a strong emotion or event. Symbols also allow readers to emotionally connect and feel close to a character. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak‚ an outcast‚ Melinda‚ goes through her freshman year of high school‚ and her emotions are shown through numerous items. These items reflect her character and show the many negative struggles she faces. Anderson uses symbolism through the changing of the school mascot‚ mirrors‚ and tree to represent Melinda’s
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Everybody feels depressed at some time or another in his or her lives. However‚ it becomes a problem when depression is so much a part of a person’s life that he or she can no longer experience happiness. In Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye‚ the author develops the theme of Holden’s depression because it fully portrays Holden’s outlook on the ‘real’ world and life itself. The cause of Holden’s depression can be seen as his lack of personal motivation‚ his inability to self-reflect and his stubbornness towards
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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
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The reading called Black Elk Speaks brings out many problems that the white people did to ruin the Native Americans way of life. Black Elk is telling his story to John Neihardt and John translated it. Black Elk is telling a story about how the white people roads ruin the way of life for the Native Americans. He relies on pathos to inform us on what the white people did. He is mourning about the loss of his tribe members. Some of the tribe meant a lot to him. Since he was the holy medicine
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biting her lip and feeling depressed. The author stated in the book “I bit my lip clear through. It needs stitches” (Anderson 136). Melinda’s situation is so serious that it made Melinda pass out and get stitches on her head. The book stated “David says I hit my head on the edge of the table on my way down. I need stitches” (Anderson 81). Melinda found a closet which she keeps coming back to because she wants to be all alone. In the book it said‚ “This closet is abandoned-it has no purpose‚no name
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