Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

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. In Speak, Melinda begins recovering from her attack by trying to do better at school and starting to speak out. To begin with, Melinda shows her recovery by trying to do better at school. For instance, she starts doing better in her gym class. While playing tennis, Melinda tries her best to win against Nicole, the athletic goddess. “The ball explodes on the court, leaving a crater before Nicole can blink. It blows past her and hits the fence so hard it rattles” (170). This is one of the few times in the story where Melinda is passionate towards something. Throughout the year, she gradually gets better

For instance, she tells rachel about what happened at the party. Once Melinda learns that Andy and Rachel are attending prom together, she needed to tell Rachel about what Andy did. “I was stupid and drunk and I didn’t know what was happening and then he hurt-I scribbled that out-raped me” (183). Melinda finally telling someone about what happened is a perfect example of her recovery. At the beginning of the novel, she could not even talk to her friends. 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. She is much braver now because she can defend herself and no one can destroy her again. Her experience with Andy was horrible, but she grew from it and became a better, stronger