Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak is a novel that makes a definite argument. In short, the novel argues that if you are a victim of a sexual assault, you will need to speak about it in order for yourself to grow and heal. As you probably know, there are lots of difficult reasons why victims of sexual assault might have a hard time speaking up about what's happened to them. Like Melinda Sordino, main character of Speak, they might be ashamed or afraid of what will happen if they tell. Speak is the story of Melinda Sordino, a high school freshman. She tells her story in her own words, in the present tense. This telling seems to be a kind of internal monologue. Melinda doesn't talk much to others, but she sure hasn't stopped talking to herself; she

Speak by Laurie Anderson is a young adult fiction book that takes place freshman year at school in New York. The novel is circled around Melinda Sordino, the protagonist, and Andy Evans, the antagonist. The conflict happens because Melinda called the cops at a summer party. She struggles to make friends and speak up about what really happened that night during the school year. Summer is getting closer, so Melinda decides to get her stuff out of the janitor’s closet where then she is confronted by Andy. She finally escapes of the closet and soon reunites with her old friends because now they finally know the truth. This story expresses how you can’t judge people because you never really know what they’re going through.

Glass Castle: The “glass castle” symbolizes Rex’s; Jeanette’s father’s hope and dreams. Before Lori was born; Rex and Rose had a baby girl whom unfortunately died at nine months. This caused a spiral downfall in Rex’s life making him become bitterer, gloomy, dark, and an increasing consumption of alcohol. But even though that situation occurred he still held on to that dream of building the glass castle. One of the biggest current problem he faces in his life is alcoholism. Alcoholism has affected both his life and his family’s lives as well; even though he knows how badly it’s affecting him, dreaming of building that glass castle can be implied as his hope of one day overcoming his drinking problem. Just like the glass castle itself Rex’s hope and dreams are fragile and can be easily shattered however by never giving up on his dream it shows that he still has hope that one day he will build a better and happy life in the future for himself and his family.

Take a look at an apple tree, the tree lives in the perfect world, growing in a stable environment, compared to the struggling world that the Joshua tree undergoes. In the book “The Glass Castle” written by Jeannette Walls, the following quote took my interest and sparked great wisdom. “Mom frowned at me. “You’d be destroying what makes it special,” she said. “It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it its beauty.”(Walls 38). In this quote, Mary Walls indicates to Jeannette to stop thinking about preventing the tree to grow ordinary and un-special; she describes that it struggles for a reason and that is to give it its beauty. This quote metaphorically represents how the hidden, unique beauty that the Joshua tree acquires after it goes through difficult environmental circumstances makes it exotic, and stand out from any other tree.

At its core, “The Black Walnut Tree” is a conflict between the sentimental and what practically needs to be done. Throughout the poem, the author utilizes a very matter-of-fact and almost dismissive tone as the daughter and her mother debate whether or not to sell the tree and finish paying off a loan that they owe. As the poem progresses, this matter-of-fact tone transitions into figurative language as the black walnut tree takes on a more symbolic view. Mary Oliver shows in “The Black Walnut Tree” that the tree symbolizes the family’s heritage and all that their father has sought to accomplish, and, while the mortgage weighs down the family, cutting down and selling the tree would, in a sense, betray the family and what it stands for.

Mary Oliver’s The Black Walnut Tree displays a relationship between a family (the mother and daughter) and their tree. In the beginning of the poem towards the middle , both the mother and daughter are conflicted with the decision of tearing down the tree , and in return being able to pay off their mortgage. On the contrary , if the family decides to cut the tree they are afraid they may lose the strong family ties, and past generations that are connected to the tree. Ultimately the family of two has to make the decision to cut the tree or allow the tree to stay along with it’s symbolism. Mary Oliver utilizes figurative language devices such as imagery in reference to the appearance of the tree ; symbolism which corresponds to the symbolic

In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda gives a really good example of character development throughout the story. Melinda just starts her freshman year at high school. Over the summer her and her friends went to a party and Melinda gets raped by a boy named Andy Evans and ends up calling the police, she didn't tell anyone why she called the police, causing her friends and everyone at the party to reject her. Melinda’s only friend is a new girl named heather. Melinda gets depressed and starts expressing her pain through stuff like biting her lips and her nails, and not talking. At the end of the story she finally found her voice and was able to stand up for herself.

The novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is about a girl named Melinda, who shows signs of depression throughout the story. She has no friends and is hated by people she doesn’t even know. This is because she called the cops at a party, where she was raped. Anderson includes literary elements to show how Melinda is depressed. Throughout the novel, she uses many different literary elements to show Melinda’s conflict. Laurie Halse Anderson uses literary elements such as imagery, symbolism, and conflict, in order to reveal the protagonist’s emotional growth throughout the the novel.

Art is way of expression. People can use actions and art or express themselves in ways other than speaking. In the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, symbolism holds a big significance. The trees mentioned throughout the book symbolize Melinda’s changing “seasons” (her “growing” as a person). People, like trees, go through phases, they freeze in the winter, becoming nothing but lonely limbs without leaves covered with white slush. 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.

“I have entered high school with the wrong hair, wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don’t have anyone to sit with” (Anderson 4). In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, there are many themes. Appearance versus reality is an important theme in the novel and is true in people and life, it is not always just present in books. Appearance versus reality is when something in the story seems one way but is not actually that way. Melinda Sordino has a rough life and is way different on the inside than she looks and seems to be on the outside, Melinda herself is an example of appearance versus reality. There are multiple times that the theme appearance versus reality shows up in the novel they are: the couch, Melinda

Symbolism is the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character. In Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson uses literary devices to help the reader better understand Melinda’s personal changes and growth. Trees, lips, and coldness are all symbolically used to represent the changes of Melinda. Throughout the novel, trees play a big part in symbolizing Melinda.

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. She tries to navigate through her first year of high school, and it seems like the entire student body despises her; she feels more alone than ever. I will be analyzing and making connections to three specific elements in this novel: the search for one’s identity, Melinda’s inner conflict,

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), directed by Guillermo del Toro, is a gorgeously realised tale of fantasy and horror, set against the backdrop of post-Civil War Spain. The story follows a young girl, Ofelia, who travels to the countryside with her ill mother to live with her new stepfather, Vidal, a captain in Franco’s Fascist army. The film explores how Ofelia uses her imagination as a copying mechanism to deal with the monstrosities of her reality as well as to interpret the horrific events unfolding around her. Del Toro employs a number of cinematic devices including cinematography, sound and editing to effectively draw parallels between Ofelia’s reality and imagination, ultimately creating a powerful film that condemns the nature of Fascism.

Nelson Mandela has an exceptional point of view on courage, as he once said "Courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it." Like Mr. Mandela, Melinda Sordino in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson also learned this throughout her time as a ninth grader. The character Melinda has many encounters that test her courage throughout the book.

Dana Gioia’s poem, “Planting a Sequoia” is grievous yet beautiful, sombre story of a man planting a sequoia tree in the commemoration of his perished son. Sequoia trees have always been a symbol of wellness and safety due to their natural ability to withstand decay, the sturdy tree shows its significance to the speaker throughout the poem as a way to encapsulate and continue the short life of his infant. Gioia utilizes the elements of imagery and diction to portray an elegiac tone for the tragic death, yet also a sense of hope for the future of the tree. The poet also uses the theme of life through the unification of man and nature to show the speaker 's emotional state and eventual hopes for the newly planted tree. Lastly, the tree itself becomes a symbol for the deceased son as planting the Sequoia is a way to cope with the loss, showing the juxtaposition between life and death.