Commentary On Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

High school. It's a scary thought. Being prepared for things can be hard. Especially the changes that happened within one's identity. Imagine something terrible happened the summer before high school. Then starting high school people change and everyone ends up hating certain people for something they cannot control. Plus, they lose all friends they have in the mix of things. In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character Melinda Sordino gets raped the summer before high school at a party. She was extremely drunk and called the cops after the incident happened. Melinda starts high school everyone hates her for calling the cops since lots of people got in trouble at that party. Melinda has one girl who she can call her

In the beginning of the book all her old friends would make faces at her and not say anything but by the end of the book Rachelle started to realize that things happened to her and she needed her. When Melinda first gets to school she is trying to find someone to sit by in the auditorium for freshman orientation. While she is doing that she thinks to herself, "The kids behind me laugh so loud I know they're laughing about me. I can't help myself. I turn around. It's Rachel, surrounded by a bunch of kids wearing clothes that most definitely did not come from the EastSide mall" (Anderson 4). This is showing that Melinda’s old friends are making fun of her and laughing at her. Also it’s showing that everyone does not think of her the same way. Melinda is also not blend in with everyone because she is wearing different clothes. In the end of the book, Rachel starts talking to Melinda again after she finds out Andy Evans raped her. Another part in the beginning of the book Heather starts making friends with Melinda but when Heather starts using her, Melinda stands up to her. Heather is super nice to Melida and invites her to do things, but when she meets the Martha’s she slowly started to leave Melinda behind until she needed something. An example of this is when Heather is talking to Melinda in the beginning of the book, she corners Melinda and begs her to help decorate the faculty lounge. Melinda feels she is obligated to help. Then the Martha’s show up after her helping Heather, and Heather blew it off as if she is just getting homework from Melinda (Anderson 178) This is a great example of Heather using Melinda because she did not want other people to know that she helped her, and that they were friends. But after the Martha’s ditched Heather at the end of the book Heather came crawling back