Isolation Depicted In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

The main theme of the book, Speak, centers around feelings of isolation. Before beginning her freshman year, the main character, Melinda, attends an end of the summer high school party. For reasons that are not made known until later in the story, Melinda ends up calling the police, which causes the party to get busted and makes everyone hate Melinda. In addition to being an outcast among her friends and peers, Melinda also struggles in her relationships with the adults in her life. Throughout the course, we have discussed how many topics of adolescence can be critiqued through books and movies. The author of Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson, appears to be making both social and cultural critiques through this work. The cultural critique is regarding the pressures that adolescents feel to be accepted by their peers and the cruelties that adolescents inflict on one another. The social critique that Anderson seems to be making is regarding the lack of communication and connection between adolescents and adults.
Beginning with

They treat the students suspiciously, with no respect and little concern. The English teacher is described as Hairwoman, who has no face.” Melinda says Hairwoman spends twenty minutes taking attendance so she won’t have to look at the students (Anderson, 1999, p.88).
The social studies teacher is called Mr. Neck. Mr. Neck is downright mean to the students. On the first day of school, he is in the cafeteria as a boy flings mashed potatoes on Melinda at lunch. As Melinda tries to leave the lunchroom to go clean up, Mr. Neck stops her and says, “Where do you think you are going? I knew you were trouble the first time I saw you. No more warnings. You just earned a demerit for wandering the halls without a pass” (Anderson, 1999, p.9). Mr. Neck shows no concern for Melinda having just been humiliated. He seems to hate his job of having to be around