Analysis of Laura Anderson's Speak

1023 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The help literary analysis

SPEAK The plot of the book, Speak is that Melinda Sordino, a freshman at Merryweather High went to an end of the summer party with some of her friends. Things take a turn for the worst when a senior named Andy Evans sexually assaults her at the party without her friends knowing about it. Melinda is frightened, afraid, and does not know what to do so she calls 911 busting the party, and causing her friends and everyone at that school to hate her, even if they don’t know her. As the story progresses, you get to see Melinda “grow” and finally speak out about what happened to her at the party. In some cases during the story there are flashbacks. Some would be good and some would be bad. An example of a good memory is when her science teacher gives Melinda and her biology lab partner, David Protracis an apple to dissect and study. This reminds Melinda of when her father took her to an apple orchard and sat her high up into a tree. It was windy day and the wind pushed her mother into her father’s arms. This made Melinda very happy. Her parents do not seem to get along in the story and her father rarely has time to talk to her mom or Melinda. An example of a bad memory is one night Melinda can’t sleep so she goes out onto the roof of her house and has a flashback of the night she was assaulted. There are also foreshadowing events that occurred during the story. One event in particular is when she is in art class and asked to draw a tree and she has difficulty in presenting her ideas until Mr. Freeman asks her to make a collage using random items. After putting the collage together, Mr. Freeman comments that it represents pain. Melinda has difficulty drawing details and life into her trees just like in her own life s... ... middle of paper ... ...he story with the various characters. Melinda’s acquaintance, Heather works hard at finding friends and becoming popular, but in the end she turns away from Melinda. The story is about the high school years. Many times when we are growing up we can’t wait to get there because we will be treated as adults, but the truth is the problems that come along when we are older can be difficult. The various clans of students help present the theme by showing us that there are many different types of people. The popular cheerleaders, the jocks, the geeks and those who are just trying to fit in. Melinda transforming the janitor’s closet symbolizes her hiding her feelings and Melinda’s inability to speak and tell people what happened to her. High school can be fun but unfortunately through the eyes of Melinda it was a very hard time. Works Cited Speak by Laura Anderson

Show More
Related

  • Characteristics And Imagery In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    281 Words  | 1 Pages

    Throughout the passages, Laurie Halse Anderson establishes the Central Idea through the use of Characteristics and Imagery, revealing that the loudest words are the ones that aren’t spoken.

    Read More

  • Analysis of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

    1333 Words  | 3 Pages

    The structure and style of the story allows you to feel as if you are a part of the events that transpire. We first become acquainted with the Clutter family through great detail. It seems as though we learn everything there is to know about the lives of Herb, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon -- that Bonnie spends the majority of her days locked in her room or in treatment centers as a result of some mysterious psychological disorder, that Herb prefers apples for breakfast, that Nancy is the perfect teenage girl, that Kenyon is a loner who enjoys spending time in the basement working on inventions and building furniture. Once we have gained such knowledge, the story begins to shift back and forth between the events taking place in the Clutter's lives just prior to their deaths and the events taking place in the killers lives (their preparations for the Perfe...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Margo Lanagan's 'Sea Hearts'

    927 Words  | 2 Pages

    Foreshadowing or sign-posting is a way telling the reader that something is going to happen, and that this person or event matters (Harvey Chapman). In the first chapter Misskaella is said to be an old-witch so; the reader knows that she will become old, but they don’t know what makes her into this witch. Hence the reader knows something happened for her to become the

    Read More

  • Adnan Syed Case

    1306 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sarah even asked her own nephew, Sam to recall what he did on a specific night six weeks ago and he seemed very torn about his answer. Sam says, “Not a clue. In school, probably. Umm… actually I think I worked that day. Actually I don’t think I went to school that day.” Then Sam’s friend Elliot says, “I may have gone to the movies that night. I think I saw “22 Jump Street.” I went with Sam, Sean, Carter, a bunch of people.” By conducting this experiment Sarah was trying to show how it is very hard to remember events from days or even weeks before, especially if it is an ordinary day and there is nothing significant to remember like a big test, or a

    Read More

  • Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    “When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time.” A statement said by Mr. Freemen to Melinda. Melinda Sordino, the main character of Speak, loses the ability to communicate after she is sexually assaulted at a party. Instead of speaking out about what happened to her, she bottles up her pain inside, hoping that she doesn't have to speak about it. Anderson shows us through Melinda’s interactions with her classmates that by speaking, we gain power over how we live our lives.

    Read More

  • Speak By Mary Hahn Summary

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    Daniel is furious about moving into an old run down house on a farm in West Virginia. He use to live the average life, he had tons of friends, was popular, belonged to a country club, lived in a very very nice home, what could go wrong. He had to leave everything and start over with his family. He has one sister named Erica who is not social at all. She is just a kid around 7, while Daniel is around 12. Daniel feels so alone while, his family starts to pull apart. Not only does his family become broke and mean but he has no friends, everyone hates him and Erica. People at school and on the bus start telling Erica and Daniel stories about their house. Erica soon becomes frighten by the stories that are being told so, Daniel has to try to comfort her every day. But,

    Read More

  • Brief Summary Of Melinda's Speak

    537 Words  | 2 Pages

    Speak is about a girl named Melinda. She is a teenager that just started ninth grade. Many other teenagers were her friends in middle school, but not anymore. She had done something terrible that summer before high school began, and everyone hates her for it. She called the police at a party she snuck out too. Without her parents knowing. All her peers thought there was no reason for her to call the police. Only she knew the real reason. Melinda believes that no one understands her or will ever understand her. Knowing what she knows what happened at the party that night.

    Read More

  • Foreshadowing In The Landlady By Roald Dahl

    307 Words  | 1 Pages

    There are several examples of foreshadowing in the short story “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl. For instance, when Billy arrived at the Bed and Breakfast, the landlady told him that she was “choosy and particular” (Dahl 2) about her guests. Typically, a landlady does not select which guests to take in, just as long as they have enough money to pay for their stay. She also said to Billy that she had been waiting for someone like him to come around. This implies that the landlady has other intentions for Billy, besides giving him a room and food. Additionally, upon signing the landlady’s guestbook, Billy realized that he recognized the names in the two previous entries. He told the landlady that he believed he had seen the two guests, Christopher

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first literature piece I decided to include in my bibliography is the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. The book is about a teenage girl, Melinda Sordino, who attended a party right before the beginning of her freshman year in high school. She called the cops while at the party location and was wrongly accused of intentionally busting it. Her peers quickly shunned her for what they thought she did. Melinda falls silent except for when she is in her art class. She uses art to express her suppressed feelings as she learns to acknowledge what she has gone through. Melinda was raped by one of her peers at the party. She called the cops after the attack to report it, but fell silent when the operator came on

    Read More

  • Courage In Sherwood Anderson's Speak

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    Maggie Kuhn, an activist who spent her life fighting for human rights, always spoke up, just like Melinda decided to do, "Speak your mind even if your voice shakes.” Melinda spoke her mind after she finds herself at the end of summer party, where she gets raped by Andy Evans, whom she figures out is a senior at her high school. She called the police, but everybody believes she did it for the wrong reasons. In the book Speak, there is one character, Melinda Sordino who has an extremely hard start to freshman year yet displays courage throughout the whole thing.

    Read More

  • Significance Of Memory In Linda Mccullkner's 'Any Day It Is'

    1092 Words  | 3 Pages

    Memory can be explained as the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information. Some memories stay inside of your brain, with great detail. While others tend to fade away. Although you might not forget these memories completely, you will lose track of most details. Over the past few weeks, we, as a class, come into direct contact with these issues of memory. Memory is expressed greatly in two stories that were read over the past few weeks. Dry Season by Joe Wilkins, explains a whole story based off of the main characters memory of his father. While in Whatever Day It Is by Linda McCullough, the story is based on an elderly woman, and her memories of herself as a child. These two stories seem to take a unique, and different stance on memory.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Social Constructs In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

    1882 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many people in the world are like puppets. They move to the commands of others. Once in awhile, the puppet obtains a will of its own and moves against the crowd. Ivy, from Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, became that one puppet who moved against the crowd, with the crowd being social constructs. A social construct is something that the society makes true even though to other people, it has no value. There are many examples of social conflicts throughout the book and the clans or groups in school are social constructs. The main character, Melinda, struggled to fit into these categories causing her to be the Outcast to society. Nobody seems to want to truly befriend Melinda, causing her to be alone. Although Melinda is ostracized by her society

    Read More

  • Up The Down Staircase

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sylvia Barret, a new teacher is starting her first day in room 304. She finds out that teaching isn’t all that she thought it would be. Her first friend is Bea a veteran teacher who helps Sylvia out by explaining how Calvin Coolidge high works. The writer takes all the craziness of a normal high school and embellishes them; for instance the school guidance counselor is always using big words and thinks all the students need help. And Mr. Mchabe the administrative assistant who is nosy about everything. The Janitor who is never available.

    Read More

  • Memory

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    Memory is the tool we use to learn and think. We all use memory in our everyday lives. Memory is the mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experiences. We all reassure ourselves that our memories are accurate and precise. Many people believe that they would be able to remember anything from the event and the different features of the situation. Yet, people don’t realize the fact that the more you think about a situation the more likely the story will change. Our memories are not a camcorder or a camera. Our memory tends to be very selective and reconstructive.

    Read More

  • Speak Movie Summary

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Her parents think of her as being a rebellious teenager going through a phase. Her mother pays more attention to her career and her father is out most of the time looking for a job. Melinda is left to eat TV dinners on the couch in front of the television.

    Read More

More about Analysis of Laura Anderson's Speak

Open Document