Every sixty-eight seconds, an American is sexually assaulted, and it is stated that only twenty-five out of every one thousand perpetrators will see the consequences of their actions (RAINN). Now, imagine if the world was a place where victims felt as if they could speak up and receive proper assistance without question and judgment. Imagine if every sexual assault case concluded with justice for the victim. Laurie Halse Anderson tells her own story of sexual violence and the struggles of the aftermath through the eyes of high school freshman, Melinda Sordino, in her work Speak. Throughout the novel, Melinda internally fights with herself on who to protect, herself and other females around her, or her attacker’s reputation. This inner battle …show more content…
Despite being the most hated among her classmates and all alone, Melinda is forced to attend the first day of school. Also being alone due to being the new student from Ohio, Melinda is put with ‘Heather from Ohio’ and almost assigned to be friends with her. Though they are very different people, Melinda allows herself to be acquaintances with Heather. Feeling confident enough in her trust for Heather, Melinda is tempted to tell her of Andy Evans. Heather, however, decides that she does not want to continue this “friendship” that she and Melinda have. She even tells Melinda, “We were never really, really friends, were we?” (Anderson 105) then proceeds to say that Melinda acts “weird”. Now, was Heather right to abandon this relationship? According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, PTSD Center, “5% to 10% of survivors may have lasting relationship problems,”. The symptoms of PTSD can cause problems with trust, closeness, communication, and problem-solving. These problems may affect the way a victim acts with those around them. Depression and PTSD go hand in hand–Melinda expresses her loss of this connection in her life when she says, “I have no friends. I have nothing. I say nothing. I am nothing,” (Anderson 116). This feeling of self-deprecation demonstrates the mental effect that sexual assault has on an individual. One situation …show more content…
From seeing him at the mall on her skip day to being cornered after she tried to warn Rachel of what he is capable of, to being locked in a closet with him, Melinda is forced to speak up for herself and those around her. Sitting in the library with Rachel, Melinda attempted to tell her…“‘I didn’t call the cops to break up the party’ I write. ‘I called-’ I put the pencil down. I pick it up again. ‘I called [them] because some guy raped me’”. (Anderson 183). Acting with much attention and concern, Rachel suddenly wanted to know all the details of her situation. However, as soon as Melinda provided the name of Rachel’s boyfriend, her assaulter, Rachel made sure to defend Andy and derail Melinda’s warning. It is not until Andy locks Melinda in her hideaway closet that light is shed on their interaction. It is not until this time that Melinda fully realizes what happened to her and can find the fire in her to say, “No,” to Andy: “A sound explodes from me. ‘NNNOOO!!!’ I follow the sound, pushing off the wall, pushing Andy Evans,” (Anderson 194). As Melinda says, she “explodes”. The anger, the fear, and every other feeling she has battled in the recovery of her assault is let loose on the only person who deserves it: Andy Evans who most likely figured he would always get away with it. The magnitude of self-respect is so deeply shown through Melinda’s progression of herself in this
Although she had been averse to the project given to her, she gradually began to like it. It was the only class she actually tried her best at, as an outlet to express herself, even if it was just the slightest bit. Over the next couple weeks, Melinda started to eat lunch with Heather and went on a couple trips to Heather’s home. The two formed an unhealthy friendship where Heather did about 90 percent of the talking, as she was much more social then Melinda. She wanted to be popular, however, which meant joining a one of the many cliques of high school.
The author’s greater purpose with this conflict is to connect with readers who may be survivors of rape. She wants to create a familiar setting and tone with these readers so they may relate to the story. Melinda’s mental state at this point of story leaves you wondering: Will she be able to conquer her
Eventually she drops Melinda as a friend and said that she was too depressed and needed help. This Melinda even more depressed and feel more alone. When prom came around Heather went to Melinda’s house and begged her to help with prom preparations. Heather offered to help redo Melinda’s room. Melinda finally stood up for what she believed and said no to Heather.
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’” (Anderson 105). Heather directly points out Melinda’s avoidance of conflict. Melinda doesn’t bother with social activities or any of Heather’s interests, preferring to be alone.
Melinda is isolated from everybody at school, this affected her ability to speak openly about her pain with the strong animosity held upon her. At a pep rally, Melinda is publicly humiliated about the party by a group of students sitting behind her. “‘You’re Melinda Sordino?’ I turn around. She blows a black bubble and sucks it back into her mouth.
Even though Melinda is trying to help Rachel, she is not believing that Andy sexually assaulted Melinda,
Melinda tries her hardest not to remember what happened but can’t silence the pain or get rid of the memory because of how much it impacted her life. Melinda becomes sleep-deprived and experiences anxiety throughout the book. Besides feeling shame, PTSD and depression can also be major side effects for teens going through stressful
Melinda has been traumatized by him that she can not even stand being near him, and her ability to talk to others has gone away. In fact, towards the middle of the book, Andy comes up to Melinda while she is practicing drawing her trees. She says, “ IT: “Hello? Anyone home? Are you deaf?
She kept her secret so long that she now views it as a second nature to be quiet. Resentment and hate are two very strong words usually not used to describe friends. Her relationship with Heather turns sour when Heather decides that the depressed girl with a bad reputation cannot be her friend. Melinda cannot even start over with new friends. Without coming clean and freeing her “reputation” she is unable to change.
Did you know that over 3.2 million students get bullied before they reach high school? This is why the novel Speak is a suggested book to start off high school for incoming freshman who may have felt violated in a way. Speak is a novel about a freshman named Melinda Sordino who gets sexually assaulted by a senior named Andy Evans during a summer party in August, which is why she had to call the cops. Doing so ruined her reputation and this incident had scar her. Her biggest problem throughout the book is to speak up or to tell someone this had happen, which is a common problem in today’s generation of teens.
At the end of the story she finally found her voice and was able to stand up for herself. In the beginning, Melinda didn't talk to anyone, barely even to her parents. She says, “I have tried so hard to forget every second of that stupid party and here I am in the middle of a hostile crowd that hates me for what I had to do. I can't tell them what really happened” (Anderson, 28).
After Melinda admits to herself that she was raped, Melinda starts to realize that
She insists that she really wants to tell her secret, but to “hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else” won’t help her get rid of the horrible memory. Instead, she kept her tragic experience to herself and hid in the closet. What propelled Melinda’s confession was when she refused to help heather with prom. That led to her overcoming her fear and confess to Rachelle about what really happened the night of the party. As previously seen the reader can say that Melinda put in practice the quote, “Bad human communication leaves us less room to grow.”
For instance, she tells rachel about what happened at the party. Once Melinda learns that Andy and Rachel are attending prom together, she needed to tell Rachel about what Andy did. “I was stupid and drunk and I didn’t know what was happening and then he hurt-I scribbled that out-raped me” (183). Melinda finally telling someone about what happened is a perfect example of her recovery. At the beginning of the novel, she could not even talk to her friends.
Sexual assault has effected many people like Melba and is still a big problem now. Underprivileged groups are often taken advantage of and are scared to report the assaults. One example of this is that “rape appeared to be a growing problem as data collected by the FBI displayed that the rate of reported rapes began to increase dramatically in the 1960s as women entered the workforce in larger numbers. ”(Columbia). This quote shows how rapists and assaulters take advantage of groups like newly employed women.