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Speak To Me Analysis

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"Speak" To Me A teen named Melinda Sordino comes to high school feeling depressed and lonely. Her school friends hate her because she called the police during a summer party. However, no one knew that the reason she called was because she had been raped by Andy Evans. She refuses to speak to anyone about the events that took place. This novel connects to many teens who do not have the confidence to speak up for themselves, like Melinda. Furthermore, this novel talks about real world problems such as women empowerment, depression, and communication. Firstly, a real-world example that connects to this novel is women empowerment. Melinda does a report for bonus marks on the Suffragettes in Mr. Neck's class. Unfortunately, she must do the report …show more content…

It is evident that Melinda was depressed as she was biting her lip and cutting her wrist with the end of a paperclip. Due to her depression, she was not fully understood by many people, such as her parents and Heather. For example, when Melinda cut her wrist, her mom said, "I don’t have time for this Melinda" (88). Since her mom does not bother to take the time to comprehend her situation, it is clear that she does care about how Melinda feels. Moreover, Melinda’s behavioural issues stem from her depression and lack of desire to actively engage in her life. To emphasize, Heather see this abnormal behaviour when she says, "You don’t like anything. You are the most depressed person I've ever met, and excuse me for saying this, but you are no fun to be around and I think you need professional help" (105). Both Heather and Melinda’s mom complain about her depression and they do not try to help her overcome it. In reality, many teens and adults have depression. Unfortunately, a lot of them do not have someone who they can talk to, who will listen, understand, and try help. Moreover, it is those who talk about how they feel that are able to overcome their depression; those who do not, typically do horrible things to themselves like attempting to commit suicide. Similarly, as Melinda had no one to turn to, she attempted suicide by slitting her wrist with a

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