Creative Discovery In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

Creative Discovery- How Ivy Helped Melinda to Find Her Voice

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s short novel Speak, a teenage girl named Melinda Sordino makes an attempt to face the trauma of being assaulted, while, at the same time, facing the rough transition into high school. Melinda’s friend Ivy is an artistic and unconventional fellow freshman who helped our protagonist most to find her voice.

To begin with, she aided Melinda with her art more than almost anyone, with the exception of Mr. Freeman. On the day Melinda made an odd, haunting, and surreal sculpture using chicken bones, Ivy commended her on her work, even though she found it slightly disturbing. Later on, she told Melinda how she could not stop thinking about the sculpture, because it was “creepy in a good way, good creepy,” according to paragraph eight of page one hundred forty-five. Also, when they spoke at the mall about the weary face-painters and the fussy zoo

She confided in Melinda with her thoughts about him, that he was definitely trouble and was to be avoided at all cost. This statement began to make Melinda begin to feel that, maybe, she was not the only one who knew he was dangerous. Her thoughts were confirmed when Ivy showed her everything people had written on the inside of a girls’ bathroom stall, under the words “Guys To Stay Away From” and Andy’s name, both of which had been written in the stall by Melinda after Ivy accidentally stained her shirt with marker. The writing in the stall, along with the note Melinda anonymously placed in her locker and Melinda’s not-so-well received confession in the library, caused Rachel/Rachelle to question Andy’s credibility. These events eventually lead to Rachel/Rachelle and Andy’s dramatic breakup at prom, and Andy being caught by the lacrosse team trying to again assault Melinda as a form of exacting