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“As they walk down the aisle, people who were my middle-school lab partners or gym buddies glared at me.” ( Anderson 3) The book Speak is about a girl, Melinda. Who did something over the summer, and now people in her school hate her, and she has no one to talk to, not even her family because they don’t get along. Two factors that shape Melinda’s identity are family and friends. One factor that shaped Melinda’s identity is her family. “You get those grades up or your name is mud. Hear me? Get them up!” (Anderson 36) Where her parents talk to her, and each other they have a raised voice. They don’t try to listen to her, and this is something that could shape her identity because she feels like she can’t talk to them. The way someone is raised
However, despite the social order, Jim and Antonia, immediately become friends. Their friendship is sparked when Jim teaches Antonia how to read and speak English. This is one of the first times the reader sees a division in their educational and social status. It affects them positively by bringing them closer together.
One of Beverly Tatum's major topics of discussion is racial identity. Racial identity is the meaning each of us has constructed or is constructing about what it means to be a white person or a person of color in a race-conscious society. (Tatum, pp Xvii) She talks about how many parents hesitate to talk to their children about racism because of embarrassment and the awkwardness of the subject. I agree with her when she says that parents don't want to talk about racism when they don't see a problem. They don't want to create fear or racism where none may exist. It is touchy subject because if not gone about right, you can perhaps steer someone the wrong way. Another theory she has on racial identity is that other people are the mirror in which we see ourselves. (tatum pp18) 'The parts of our identity that do capture our attention are those that other people notice, and that reflects back to us.'; (Tatum pp21) What she means by this is that what other people tell us we are like is what we believe. If you are told you are stupid enough you might start to question your intelligence. When people are searching for their identity normally the questions 'who am I now?'; 'Who was I before?'; and 'who will I become'; are the first that come to mind. When a person starts to answer these questions their answers will influence their beliefs, type of work, where they may live, partners, as well as morals. She also mentions an experiment where she asked her students to describe themselves in sixty seconds. Most used descriptive words like friendly, shy, intelligent, but students of color usually state there racial or ethnic group, while white students rarely, if ever mention that they are white. Women usually mention that they are female while males usually don't think to say that they are males. The same situation appeared to take place when the topic of religious beliefs came up. The Jewish students mentioned being Je...
In the story Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson there is a character named Melinda, Melinda is starting high school, but Melinda is having trouble with High school because none of her friends do not want to collaborate with her. One day she snuck out of her house and went to a party ,and called the police. In my opinion Melinda should talk to her parents about what happened at the party.
Ever since the party, Melinda rarely talked to anybody, including her parents. Nevertheless, I noticed that during the second semester of the year she talked considerably more. “All right, but you said we had to put emotion into our art. I don’t know what that means. I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel.”(p122). This quote is from the third marking period when Melinda was talking to her art teacher Mr.Freeman. I believe that she wouldn’t have said anything had it been earlier in the year. “Stinks. It was a mistake to sign up for art. I just couldn’t see myself taking wood shop.”(p.146). This quote is another example of Melinda talking, this time to Ivy in the mall. I think these quotes prove that Melinda starts talking more as the year progresses.
Melinda shows her becoming an outcast when on the first day in the auditorium she has to sit by herself. As Melinda sits by herself on the bleachers she thinks to herself “I am outcast”(Anderson 4). At this point in the story
I often have a difficult time describing my situation to others, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. Three divorces have taught me what successful and not so successful relationships look like. My younger sister with autism has taught me empathy, compassion, and patience. My step siblings have been there for me when did not have to be and for that I am grateful. No matter the family situation, every family has an undeniable sense of pride. For example, my family, most of whom were born in Ireland, throw the loudest St. Patrick’s day parties and keep our Irish flags up all through March. We are proud of our incredibly fair skin and abundance of freckles and redheads. My family’s pride is similar to that of Aunt Alexandra’s and her obsession with heredity and the certain “family streaks” in the novel’s Maycomb county. Scout mentions said streaks in chapter 13. “Everybody in Maycomb, it seemed, had a streak: a drinking streak, a gambling streak, a mean streak, a funny streak,” (Lee 129). I again feel Scout and I could relate to each other through our unique family situations, hers of course being her family’s cook Calpurnia and her neighbor Miss Maudie as her mother figures. Another unique family are the Pritchett’s on the show Modern Family. I was elated when this show came out because, while dramatized for comedic effect, it is a break from the straight, white, “we all get along fine” families usually depicted on TV.
Additionally, she stresses that the values of her childhood helped her to develop respect for different people. Her father influenced her a lot to feel comfortable just the way she is around her hometown; ...
The novel begins with Alice’s first diary entry in September. She talks a lot about feeling like she doesn’t fit in, and butting heads with her mother and siblings. She also speaks of the anxieties associated with having sex for the first time. Soon after the first entry, her father gets a promotion and stages a move for the family, which excites Alice, as she is ready for a change in her life. As the move gets closer, however, Alice becomes nervous and scared about fitting in in an entirely new place. On...
Speak starts with a young lady, named Melinda, attending her first day of school scoping out the school and staff without any friends. Melinda, being the quiet girl she is in the beginning of the school year, gains new friends, a new girl from out of town, and her art teacher. As the story progress, background on Melinda is revealed. She had lost her friends after calling the cops on the party because she was scared after being raped by a boy named Andy Evans. Melinda’s grades and relationship begins to dwindle down as the year goes on for Melinda forcing her to see the guidance counselor with her parents. She starts to talk a little more to her old friends as her new friend Heather has
Both characters change after an event that takes place in their life. In Speak Melinda changes prior to the raping. A change is evident, because during the meeting with her parents the principal says, “Melinda. Last year you were a straight –B student, no behavioral problems, few absences. But the reports I’ve been getting…well, what can we say?” (Anderson, 114). She must have been a straight-B student in the eighth grade, since none of her progress reports for the ninth grade year have all B’s. Not only Melinda’s grades change, but also her social status. She states, “I have entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude. And I don’t have anyone to sit with. I am Outcast” (Anderson, 4). She doesn’t talk to any of her friends from middle school except for Ivy, who she occasionally talks to. Tyler changes physically and mentally after doing the
...ath; it is that child’s choice on which road. It is with the forces of family, friends, media, and school that influence a child’s identity. In the words of Amiri Baraka “It is in knowing your history and where you come from, is what determines who you are” meaning your heritage is a reflection of your identity. In Alice Walker’s stories, she illustrates the importance of knowing your heritage through the character of the mother. Kincaid also gave way to the daughter knowing her heritage, by her mother giving her life challenges that she dealt with at her age, thereby guiding her daughter into not making the same mistakes as she had. Both works of literature helps readers understand that a person's state of mind is full of thoughts about who they are and what they want to be. People can try to modify their identity as much as they want, but that can never change.
One place where this is apparent is her janitor’s closet at school. Melinda wants to hide away from her classmates, who hate her, her teachers, whom she dislikes,
Social and internal dialogue is representative of the enculturation process that Laura and Miss Brill have been exposed to. Both of Mansfield’s short stories represent a binary: Laura’s realizations of...
In today's world, society creates an impact on human life. More of an impact can be seen among family and peers. They can be found at home, work, and school. At home with family, identity can be created on the difference of having one parent, divorced or separated parents, no parents, abusive parents, or even negligent parents. For example, children who grow up without a father or mother figure tend to become more independent at an early stage. Another example is where certain experiences within the family such as constantly witnessing parents argue can cause one's identity to be confined and distant. But, some people shape their identity similar to their parents. Such as a son became a soldier in the army because his father was in the army. Siblings, if any, are also an influence on the social identity of a person. They either become your friend, mentor, or you...
At work she cares for Sam’s wellbeing and education, she attempts to show Sam that she is important and deserves better. At school Sam’s life isn’t so different, other kids mock her for the job she has as a bus girl and for her lack in feminine clothing. She believes that fantasy is better than reality, she has a hidden relationship with a boy through text messages. The only person that she fully expresses herself with other than Rhonda is the guy she texts. Before the dance Sam is still confused on whether to go or not, but after Rhonda gives Sam a special dress that was her wedding dress, it installs confidence in Sam. The dress was one of the only things given to Sam from a women that made her feel pretty, and it made Sam realize even for a moment that she deserves to be spoiled too. Although, at the dance after having a great time with her guy she fall back into thinking that she would be doing him a favor if she didn’t disappoint him by reveling her true identity. Sam’s is exposed when a popular girl tells the whole school of her story and humiliating her. When she looks to her guy for help he turns in embarrassment, which only reinstalls her feelings of being worthless and an embarrassment and returns to her normal life of taking orders and feeling bad for herself.