ipl-logo

The Characters In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

710 Words3 Pages

Speak “The silence was killing me. And that's all there ever was. Silence. It was all I knew. Keep quiet. Pretend nothing had happened, that nothing was wrong. And look how well that was turning out.” (J. Lynn, Wait for You). In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character, Melinda, grows as a person against great adversity. Speak is a very powerful novel with relatable characters. Speak shows us another side of a story we usually don't get see. Melinda is entering her first year of high school, she is considered an outcast. This is because everyone believes she called the police on a party in the summer, little do they know she was sexually assaulted by a fellow classmate Andy Evans . This novels message is that nothing is …show more content…

Near the end of the book, Melinda started standing up for herself and developing a new confidence. “I’m tough enough to play and strong enough to win.”(pg 170) For most of the book, Melinda always thought she was doing everything wrong “ I feel bad that I didn’t.” (pg 72) was a common theme for her. Melinda always did whatever people told her to do especially Heather “‘ I won’t help you.”’ (pg 179) Melinda finally said no to Heather, after she said no to Heather, she started to gain all the confidence and self-worth back that Andy took away. In the last part of the novel, you see the main character face her biggest fear, standing up to Andy which is the last piece of the puzzle for her to become a whole person again. Throughout the novel Speak we see Melinda grow even though everything seems to be going wrong. When we first see Melinda she is lonely and is hated by everyone. Even with everything going against her she finds a new love for art, she finds new friends and new confidence that she didn’t have before. We see how being sexually assaulted then not telling anyone affects Melinda's life. The book shows us how being assaulted can completely change a person’s life and personality. Reading Speak shows you that even if you are suffering you can always change your life. It is always possible to change your life for the better. There is always a way out of a bad

Show More
Related

  • Finding Your Voice In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    953 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Speak” is a novel written by Laurie Halse Anderson in 1999, which follows the life of Melinda Sordino. Melinda, a freshman at MerryWheather High School has entered her first year as an outcast because she called the police at a summer party. As Melinda navigates through her first year in high school, she faces constant bullying and resentment from her classmates and former friends because of this decision. Melinda struggles with PTSD and decides to remove herself from any social circle and becomes a selective mute as a result of a traumatic event that took place at this party. Through Melinda’s internal monologues and interactions with her peers, the novel explores themes of trauma and the power of communication.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    695 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the beginning of the book, where she seeks to avoid herself to now where Melinda empowers herself and stands up against

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Melinda Sordino In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    505 Words  | 3 Pages

    Melinda Sordino Melinda Sordino is the main character in Laurie Halse Anderson’s award-winning book, Speak. Speak is about a young teenager who experienced a great trauma. Melinda Sordino was raped at a high school party before the start of her freshman year. She struggles with letting her secret be known. Melinda is very independent, lonely, and depressed.

    Read More

  • Outsiders In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    216 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the book “Speak” Laurie Halse Anderson writes about a young teen, Melinda Sordino, an outsider and a despised person who is entering high school. Melinda shutdown an end-of-summer party by calling the police, she was heavily intoxicated and she got raped. She has a troublesome time fitting in and finding her way through high school, while she is still hoping to make it out alive. Melinda’s ex-best friend Rachel and her other ex-friends will not talk or be friends with her anymore because after what she did. Melinda is concealing her secret about being raped from Rachel, her ex-friends, and her parents.

    Read More

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

    535 Words  | 3 Pages

    Speak “ When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time”. This quote displays the harsh truth that many people must face in their daily lives, as well as the main character of the book Speak. This impactful fictional story was written by Laurie Halse Anderson who is a humorous author born in New York on October 23, 1961.

    Read More

  • Characters In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    909 Words  | 4 Pages

    Have you ever needed somebody to help you achieve your desires? .In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character has a hard time speaking. Melinda stated the mood in the novel by saying “…me with an S maybe, S for silent, for stupid, for scared, S for silly, for shame”(Anderson 101).Throughout the school year Melinda relies on her attacker, friends, and a trusted teacher to speak up.

    Read More

  • Brief Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    498 Words  | 2 Pages

    Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a story of a girl that wants to make it through her first year of high school safely. The main character, Melinda, is trying to cope with what happened to her last year at a party. She was sextualy assulted by a guy that is now at the same school as her. The police were called by her and then she lost all her friends because of it. This story is how she tried to make it through her first year without too much pain.

    Read More

  • Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson Character Analysis

    1804 Words  | 8 Pages

    The Cruelties of Silence Have you ever seen someone sitting alone in the school cafeteria during lunch, and wonder why that person was alone? Were they waiting for their friends? Were they new? Were they studying? None of these explanations were why Melinda, the main character of the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson was sitting alone during lunch.

    Read More

  • Laurie Halse Anderson

    1027 Words  | 5 Pages

    She lost her identity and became cynical of other people. After her old friends ditched her, she lost a major part of herself. Then, although she did not consider Heather a “true friend”, she was desperate to keep her when Heather wanted to cut the ties of friendship. Going through high school is hard enough, but especially difficult when teenagers have no one there to go through it with. Also, Melinda’s appearance changes drastically over the summer.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Character Development In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    755 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    529 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    685 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book Speak is a book written by Laurie Halse Anderson, it is about a young girl named Melinda Sordino and is about a very serious and all too common issue: rape and depression. Rape is a serious problem, it can completely destroy a person, making them never the same again. Depression is always an uphill battle and is even worse when your friends turn their back on you and your family does not notice something is seriously wrong with you. Melinda was a young girl enjoying life until an older boy named Andy Evans took advantage of his size and raped her.

    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

  • Stay Away From Speak

    451 Words  | 2 Pages

    Melinda was able to speak at the end of the novel Speak by Laurie Hals Anderson, because she ultimately realized that she had the vital support surrounding her. At the beginning of the novel, Melinda has lost all of her friends due to a misunderstanding during the summer, however as the book moves along she establishes valuable connections with new and old people. Ivy and Melinda had gone through a troublesome time in their friendship, but by renewing the connection they had the past year, Melinda then had someone she knew she could trust. Ivy never bullied Melinda, but she grew apart from Melinda when Rachel and Nicole did, when Melinda sees Ivy and other “people [she] used to think were [her] friends, they look away” (9), however towards the end of the year Melinda starts to open up to Ivy about what happened over the summer by making her list of “Guys to Stay Away From” on the bathroom wall (175). Throughout the year it is present that Melinda and Ivy’s friendship evolves and Melinda is then able to trust Ivy with the truth.

    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

More about The Characters In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

Open Document