Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson Analysis

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.

In the novel, Anderson uses imagery to show Melinda’s mental state throughout the novel. For example, “I stumble from thorn bush to thornbush-my mother and father who hate each other, Rachel who hates me, a school that gags on me like I’m a hairball. And Heather” (Anderson 125). This quote shows that Melinda has no friends and is hated by many people, who she once called her best friends. It also shows how even her parents aren’t happy. Laurie Halse Anderson uses imagery by mentioning the thorn bushes and comparing herself to a hair ball. The use of imagery allows the readers to feel sympathy towards Melinda. For example, the simile the author uses is “a school that gags on me like I’m a hairball.” This reveals that no one seems to like

For example, “I look at my homely sketch. It doesn’t need anything. Even through the river in my eyes I can see that. It isn’t perfect and that makes it just right.” (Anderson 198). Her “homely sketch” symbolizes her life. It shows how all though she has gone through depression and her life hasn’t been perfect, she realizes she must accept it. Her experience with depression shows her that no one’s life is perfect and many people will go through many different things. She finally understands that whatever has happened to her in her life has made her become the person she