ipl-logo

Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson Should Not Be Banned From Libraries And Schools

656 Words3 Pages

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson should not be banned from libraries and schools. Speak should not be banned from libraries and schools because they teach valuable life lessons that kids can benefit from and grow as a person from reading about. For example,“You can't speak up for your right to be silent. That's letting the bad guys win"(Anderson, 159). Throughout Speak, the main character Melinda struggles to speak up about her drastic assault. Over the course of this book, she learns how important it is to speak up because if you stay silent you're letting the person who immensely changed your life for the worse win and get away with things that are unacceptable. In our society young women are being assaulted and are the victims of rape quite frequently and this book really stretches the importance of speaking up for your rights and to …show more content…

I can grow”(Anderson, 198). Melinda had a horrific time expressing her feeling and found it hard to come out about her atrocious assault. When Melinda finally expressed her feelings and spoke up she realized that she can still, learn, grow, and have a happy, successful life. This is a very important message because this can apply to many real-world situations that happen daily. When a gruesome or horrific event occurs in one's life you should always talk to someone and speak out about it because you will be able to move on and have a joyous life after you get help and admit to what happened so you can stop running away from your problems. This message is essential for teenagers to learn because it will be useful for them throughout the tough periods in their lifetime. The author Laurie Halse Anderson states, “Nothing is perfect. Flaws are interesting”(Anderson, 153). This quote portrays a good message because Melinda thought that because of her attack she was flawed and wasn't perfect but she realized by the end of the novel that everyone has there issues and not everyone is perfect and that's

Show More
Related

  • Self Growth And Isolation In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    439 Words  | 2 Pages

    The theme of self growth and isolation can be seen throughout the novel Speak (1999) by Laurie Halse Anderson, which follows the main protagonist, Melinda Sordino through her freshman year. When Melinda is first introduced, she mentions a secret that she is afraid to talk to anyone about. Melinda later reveals to the readers that she was raped by a high school senior at an end of summer party. Everyone at school acts hostile towards Melinda for calling the cops and ruining what was the best night of their lives, unbeknown to them, that night still haunts her dreams. This causes Melinda to become isolated from everyone, as they only see her as the freak who called the cops.

    Read More

  • At The Dark End Of The Street Chapter Summaries

    1404 Words  | 6 Pages

    Danielle L. McGuire’s At the Dark End of the Street, “an important, original contribution to civil rights historiography”, discusses the topic of rape and sexual assault towards African American women, and how this played a major role in causing the civil rights movement (Dailey 491). Chapter by chapter, another person's story is told, from the rape of Recy Taylor to the court case of Joan Little, while including the significance of Rosa Parks and various organizations in fighting for the victims of unjust brutality. The sole purpose of creating this novel was to discuss a topic no other historian has discussed before, because according to McGuire they have all been skipping over a topic that would change the view of the civil rights movement.

    Read More

  • Southland Jackie Ishida Analysis

    940 Words  | 4 Pages

    She is reminded of the violence that torn not only communities apart but families as well. How the social norms of the day restricted people’s lives and held them in the balance of life and death. Her grandfathers past life, her grandmother cultural silence about the internment and husband’s affair, the police brutality that cause the death of 4 young black teenagers. Even her own inner conflicts with her sexuality and Japanese heritage. She starts to see the world around her with a different

    Read More

  • Katherena Vermette's The Break

    1674 Words  | 7 Pages

    Katherena Vermette’s novel The Break, is centered around a sexual assault. Through the perspective of eight narrators the story unfolds over the day leading up to the attack, memories triggered by the assault, and the recovery of all those involved. The novel’s two strongest themes are a juxtaposition of gender disparity and the strength and resilience of the women and girls involved. Gendered performance is common throughout the book, for both men and women, although the focus is on the female characters.

    Read More

  • Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    849 Words  | 4 Pages

    One night, one party, one person, one call, that is all it takes to change somebody’s identity and shape them into the person they truly are. Melinda Sordino is the victim of a horrible night that changed her life. In the novel speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character Melinda is faced with many challenges. Melinda attended a party the summer before ninth grade. She wasn’t thinking about the consequences that come with drinking, she was not thinking about how one little action could ruin her relationship with those around her,one action that could shape her identity into who she truly is, one action that she would be to traumatized to tell anyone about.

    Read More

  • Melinda's Growth In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    449 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are people in our lives who have helped us grow. In the summer before freshman year in high school Melinda Sordino was raped at a party. After calling the police she was left without friends or dignity. She isolates herself not knowing what to do. In Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda grows in many ways throughout the book.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    529 Words  | 3 Pages

    Every year over 63,000 teenagers are raped. After Rape incidents, many victims suffer from trauma and painful emotions. A similar situation occurs in the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. In this story, Melinda Sordino, a high school freshman, is raped by an upperclassman. Many rape victims never recuperate from their attacks, but the strongest few do.

    Read More

  • The Argumentative Essay Of Banning Books

    609 Words  | 3 Pages

    At one point in time, over 7,220 books have been challenged to be banned. Though these books have been removed for the safety of children, not all books should be banned for many reasons. These include the fact that banning books is infringing on the First Amendment, keeping children from understanding the real world, and, even though there are many reasons for book banning, not banning books could help a student’s education and can even work against itself. Banning a book from a school or public library could go against a person’s First Amendment of the freedom of press.

    Read More

  • Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson Analysis

    734 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Melinda As A Dynamic Character In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    432 Words  | 2 Pages

    Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a fictional story placed in Merrywether High School in Syracuse, New York about the life of a social outcast and rape victim, Melinda Sordino. Throughout the story, Melinda struggles to cope with the fact that she was raped by Andy Evans at a high school party. Melinda can be classified as both a round and dynamic character. A round character is classified as a character with varying emotions and feelings— someone whom the audience can understand and hear the internal thoughts of.

    Read More

  • Social Reputation In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    197 Words  | 1 Pages

    Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a novel regarding Melinda Sordino, a 14 year old girl, who gets raped at the end of summer party. Melinda ends up calling the police, causing all of her friends to absolutely despise her. The story begins as Melinda arrives to her first day of 9th grade friendless, receiving dirty looks from everyone in the halls. Her once happy personality, entirely transforms into the opposite. “I cry to let everything out” Initially, Melinda befriends Heather, a new girl to the school, but later Heather realizes that Melinda being her friend ruins her social reputation.

    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

  • Essay On Banned Books

    709 Words  | 3 Pages

    “American citizens who care about the improvement of education are urged to join students, teachers, librarians, administrators, boards of education, and professional and scholarly organizations in support of the students’ right to read” (The Students Right to Read). Citizens should be allowed to stand up if they believe books should not be banned. It is important that writers should be able to have their books out to the public without getting banned. “Challengers often employ a definition that maintains that banning materials is the only true form of censorship,”(Knox 740). Censorship of books is common and a real problem.

    Read More

  • Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

    898 Words  | 4 Pages

    Speak, a novel written by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a memorable story about a girl who overcomes a horrific experience, rape, and with it, injustice. Melinda, the main protagonist, has an emotional journey, and with the help of her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, survives through this excursion. As Mr. Freeman says, “‘Welcome to the journey’” (12). Mr. Freeman assists Melinda, by constantly questioning her emotional being, turning an art project into a pool of her feelings, and forcing Melinda to see the light in her heart. With Mr. Freeman lifting her emotional baggage, Melinda can finally be free and with that, experience happiness once again.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Jamaicaaica Kincaid's Girl, By Jamaica Kincaid

    1130 Words  | 5 Pages

    This mother is strong believer in domestic knowledge and believes that through this wisdom her daughter will be spared from a life of promiscuity or being, in her words, a "slut". Most importantly, it allows readers to see the detrimental measures of gender roles that are brought upon young girls just coming into womanhood. It is through the understood setting, constructive

    Read More

More about Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson Should Not Be Banned From Libraries And Schools

Open Document