ipl-logo

Importance Of Communication In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

478 Words2 Pages

In Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda struggles with communication. Melinda is at a party, she is attacked and raped by a student who attends her school, Merryweather high. When it is time to head back to school after the summer, Melinda decides not to talk to anyone. She became completely mute. In the beginning of the book, Melinda is thinking about her attack when her " throat squeezes shut...I can't even look at myself." (pg.28) Melinda was so embarrassed that she did want to talk to anyone about it. Melinda demonstrates lack of communication during this time, if she had talked to someone they could have helped her, and made sure she was ok. Melinda thinks that “[She] should probably tell someone, just tell someone. Get it over with. …show more content…

Throughout the book Melinda is pushed away from her group of friends from the previous year. When a new girl, Heather comes to school Melinda thinks it is a perfect chance for a new friend. During a long weekend, Heather invites Melinda over to her house. Melinda “wanted to sleep in but Heather really, really, really wanted [her] to come over.” (pg. 32) Melinda and Heather have grown their friendship since the day they met. They started eating lunch together and then began hanging out outside of school. Now on this long weekend, Heather asks Melinda to come over to her house, and even though Melinda wanted to sleep in, she decides to go to her house anyways, to make Heather happy. This shows the strength of their friendship, when Melinda says she “wanted to sleep in”, she goes to Heather's house anyways to make her happy. Later in the book, Heather asks Melinda to go to her house to talk about some problems that she was having with Martha another girl in her grade. Heather “Left a note in [Melinda’s] locker asking [Melinda] to go to her house after school” (pg.79). This quote is showing the relationship between Melinda and Heather. Heather is very comfortable around Melinda, she was able to ask Melinda to go to her house without feeling embarrassed or scared. Laurie Halse Anderson tries to tell the reader that a well developed friendship is a very valuable

Show More
Related

  • Melinda Betrayed Quotes

    728 Words  | 3 Pages

    Another way Melinda is betrayed by her friends, is when the book quotes on page (105-106) “(Heather)You are the most depressed person i've

    Read More

  • Brief Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    620 Words  | 3 Pages

    At this point in the novel, the only thing revealed about what happened was that she had called the cops on a high school party during summer, leaving her friends mad at her. Melinda went through the first few classes and lunch on her terrible first day, finding them all completely miserable.

    Read More

  • Essay On Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    754 Words  | 4 Pages

    Also, the closet her “safe place” she always used to hide what happened at the party from everyone else becomes a dangerous place. “It”, also known as Andy Evans the boy who rapes her at the party breaks into the closet and tries to sexually assault her again. Melinda realizes she can't let this happen again and therefore fights back with everything she has. She realizes that her closet is not safe anymore and that she can't hide from her trauma. And that she can't hide from this problem, and she needs to stand up and speak to the problem.

    Read More

  • The Birds And Vertigo Comparison

    1996 Words  | 8 Pages

    Finally, she also lies to Annie Haywood, the school teacher, about why she has come up to Bodega Bay. She tells Annie that she is just a friend of Mitch’s and wants nothing more, meanwhile her actions show she has more of a romantic interest in

    Read More

  • Speak By Laurie Halse Arizona

    848 Words  | 4 Pages

    Consequently, Melinda’s character is one which most teens relate to. Friendship is very important aspect of high school. In high school friendships start to change and so do people. People feel like they have to be cool and popular in high school and that's when everything starts to change for Melinda.

    Read More

  • Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    482 Words  | 2 Pages

    “My parents commanded me to stay after school everyday for extra help from teachers. I agreed to stay after school. After I stayed in school for extra help I go home and go into the refurbished closet” (page 50). This quote supports the claim when melinda wants to be alone so she goes into the closet and be the anti-social girl. When melinda has something on her mind she goes to the closet to let it out quietly.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Esperanza And The House On Mango Street

    1125 Words  | 5 Pages

    This causes her to be unable to speak as normal and express herself only through self physical acts of hurting herself. However, through her pain, she begins to grow from a victim to a survivor and understands that the only way to go against evil is to speak out against it. Melinda in Speak is a high school freshman who is raped by Andy Evans who is a senior in high school. Due to him raping her she loses her ability to speak normally and say what she feels and how she feels. Melinda gains her confidence to speak in public freely again by the end of the story.

    Read More

  • Use Of The Mouth Motif In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

    779 Words  | 4 Pages

    This finally shows how much Melinda has grown and how much she has found her voice. Melinda's growth is demonstrated through her finally being able to say no to Andy unlike the first time, and Melinda saying no shows how she was able to find her voice. Melinda's growth and escape from depression is expressed at the end of the

    Read More

  • Examples Of Character Development In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    755 Words  | 4 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Laurie Halse Anderson's 'Speak'

    805 Words  | 4 Pages

    After Melinda admits to herself that she was raped, Melinda starts to realize that

    Read More

  • Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    529 Words  | 3 Pages

    Now, Melinda is starting to open up about the night of the party. Last, she stands up to Andy. While Melinda is in the closet, Andy tries to make her admit that it was her fault, but Melinda puts Andy in his place and confronts him. “I said no” (195). By standing up to Andy, Melinda shows that she completely recovered from the attack.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Isolation In Laurie Anderson's Speak

    736 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although isolating herself was not making the incident disappear, Melinda thought it was better than talking

    Read More

  • Essay On Symbolism In The Book Speak

    1197 Words  | 5 Pages

    Melinda, in a lot of ways, starts out like that it the book. She becomes a shell of herself from before the party happened and because no one else was there, she is lonely and doesn't have anybody to go to and to make matters even worse, she’s covered by the reputation that she has formed. In the book, Laurie Halse Anderson uses symbolism to convey exactly what Melinda can't say. In the beginning of the book, Melinda starts high school carrying her emotional wounds with her after something happens mysterious to her at a party during the summer.

    Read More

  • The House On Mango Street Language Analysis

    671 Words  | 3 Pages

    She writes, “My home isn’t far but it’s not close either, and somehow I got it in my head one day to ask my mother to make me a sandwich and write a note to the principal so I could eat in the canteen too” (43). The canteen is the place where only the students who live too far from school go to eat. By saying this, she means that she would like to feel special and have privileges like some of the other kids. This quote is important because in her mind, she thought that having this privilege was a sigh of importance and fitting in. When her plan went wrong and she was yelled at, she realised that her expectations were way too high and that it was not a big

    Read More

  • Speak Journal Response To Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    1218 Words  | 5 Pages

    Speak Journal Response This journal is in response to the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. As a coming-of-age contemporary novel, Speak discusses many sensitive issues that are still prominent even today. In this story, we explore the life of Melinda Sordino, a fourteen-year-old girl who is beginning high school right after experiencing an utterly traumatic event: rape. Melinda is left friendless, with no one to help and support her after what happened.

    Read More

More about Importance Of Communication In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

Open Document