Learning to Speak Is they're moments in life that no matter how old he/she gets they will always remember every single detail clearly? Is there ever a time that someone could really forget the past? Or is the experience so traumatic that they mentally cannot forget? Those moments can be considered a major/minor turning point in a lifetime. Melinda Sordino, in the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, went through some major turning points throughout her freshman year. Before her freshman year even started she ended up calling the police at a high school end-of-summer party that she attended with her friends. Everyone came to the conclusion that she called the police due to the fact that there was alcohol at the party. But, they're conclusion …show more content…
The party, which was the cause to all of this, forced Melinda into becoming an outcast. Her first attempt to talk to Rachel was a mess and sorta embarrassing. And lastly, when she finally faced Andy Evans. Going back to one of my questions; Is they're moments in life that no matter how old he/she gets they will always remember every single detail clearly? If an experience like Melinda’s is traumatic enough it will be easier to remember all the details of the event clearly. The real message of this story is exactly what it says in the title, speak. Speak up if something is going on or if something happens. If Melinda kept it all to herself any longer, she could have been actually diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety. So, if something happens like what happened to Melinda Sordino happens or something entirely different, speak up. The best way to get past hard times is to talk to someone about it. Take it from Melinda, she was already having symptoms of depression and anxiety. If she kept it to herself any longer she could have actually been diagnosed and nobody in the right mindset would want to be in that position. In conclusion, go talk to someone and get help before it gets
What do events like the assassination of John F. Kennedy, The Challenger space shuttle disaster, and hurricane Andrew that shook Miami have in common? All these events can be remembered by the people who experienced it due to flashbulb memory. Flashbulb memories were defined by R. Brown and J. Kulik (1977) as vivid, detailed, and long-lasting memories for attributes of the reception context of public news (Curci, A., & Lanciano, T., 2009). The people who experience such huge events are certain that their flashbulb memories are very accurate and can give in detail what occurred to them in those events (Schwartz, 2013). Furthermore events that generate flashbulb memories are usually very surprising and emotionally arousing and are perceived by the subject as personally consequential (Emotion & Memory 1993). But not all memories need to be negative and tragic. Events like the first day of first grade, your first romantic kiss, your first day at a new job, or recital of your wedding vows can also be described as flashbulb memories (Schwartz, 2013).
Memory is a major theme in the novel as the novel itself is a memory. Kathy expresses that her memory is not what it used to be, “This was all a long time ago so I might have some of it wrong…” (Ishiguro 13). However it does not deter her from re-telling events of her childhood. Kathy’s way of narrating the novel is considered of her wanting the reader to imagine exactly where the memory happened; she begins to pick out small but strange turning points that hints of how she and the rest of her classmates are raised. This limit is noted early in the novel:
Memory is a dynamic part of everyday life. It helps people function and communicate with each other without a second thought. This communication and function can be hindered if the person experiences a traumatic event. There are two main forms of trauma, physical and emotional, each of which can cause major damage to the victims mind. Both types can cause a person to have flashbacks to the traumatic event or even temporary amnesia. In his novel Remainder, Tom McCarthy uses The Narrator to demonstrate a case of physical trauma where The Narrator has an object fall on his head placing him in a coma. The second type of trauma, emotional trauma, is represented by Grandfather in Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Everything is Illuminated where grandfather experiences a traumatic situation when he was younger but represses the memory of what happened. Foer uses Grandfather to demonstrate the struggle to overcome the trauma when he chooses to repress his memories, as opposed to McCarthy who uses The Narrator to show the initial success at overcoming trauma when there is no choice to repress the memories or not due to a case of amnesia. The Narrator uses a series of re-enactments in order to try to become more flaccid, due to the loss of memory and need to relearn every movement he makes caused by the traumatic event that he experiences.
A turning point is when your life turns around. These stories are good examples of turning points “Dragonwings” by Lawrence Yep, “Eleven by Sandra Cisneros, and Middle school loneliness. All of these Characters from the stories are struggling in their lives.
The first stage of Bildungsroman is innocence/ immaturity. Before the incident at the party, Melinda was at the stage of innocence/ immaturity. Firstly, she used to do well at school. During the meeting with the principal, guidance counselor and Melinda, the principal discusses Melinda’s previous report card: “Melinda. Last year you were a straight-B student, no behaviour problems, few absences. But the
In the story “The Help” written by Kathryn Stockett we are taken back in time to Jackson, Mississippi in August of 1962, were we meet three women by the name of Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter. Aibileen and Minny are black women who work for white families as the help. Skeeter is a young white woman in her early twenties who befriends the other two and gets them to tell their stories of what its is like to be the help. The reluctantly hesitate, but eventually give in knowing that the stories they are telling are more important than the negative impact it could have on their lives.
The Horror story of “Diary Of A Haunting” was written by M. Verano. The main character is Paige. Paige is very capable of what she believes in. She also is very strong and fearless and curious about what is going on in her house. The theme of my book is “If You Have Something To Say, Say It.” I believe that Paige knew something was going on, but she was too afraid to say it because she was soon to know if her family would think shes crazy. Since she didn't say anything things got worse. I believe it is important to speak up if your know that something is wrong.
Most people are very convinced that they have memories of past experiences because of the event itself or the bigger picture of the experience. According to Ulric Neisser, memories focus on the fact that the events outlined at one level of analysis may be components of other, larger events (Rubin 1). For instance, one will only remember receiving the letter of admission as their memory of being accepted into the University of Virginia. However, people do not realize that it is actually the small details that make up their memories. What make up the memory of being accepted into the University of Virginia are the hours spent on writing essays, the anxiety faced due to fear of not making into the university and the happiness upon hearing your admission into the school; these small details are very important in creating memories of this experience. If people’s minds are preset on merely thinking that memories are the general idea of their experiences, memories become very superficial and people will miss out on what matters most in life. Therefore, in “The Amityville Horror”, Jay Anson deliberately includes small details that are unnecessary in the story to prove that only memory can give meaning to life.
What turns Melinda on to the right path is when she is watching T.V. and Oprah, Sally Jessy, and Jerry all say the things that Melinda needs to hear: the fact that she was raped and that “he (Andy) attacked her” and that “It was not [her] fault” (164). Unhesitatingly, as a result of what the T.V. told her, Melinda tries to talk to Rachel, one of her ex-best friends, about Andy, who she is dating, but she responds to the talk by calling her a “liar” and that Melinda is “[just] jealous” (184). After the interaction, Melinda truly believes that there is no hope for herself now, because of her best ex-friend not believing her. It is not in till after prom that things turn around when gossip of the prom takes root. At the prom, “Andy was all over [Rachel] with his hands and mouth” and started “grinding against her” (191). Him acting like this, lets light filter through into Rachel’s brain, telling her that what Melinda said was the truth, resulting in her dumping him and telling him off. From being told off, Andy does not take it well, resulting in him going after Melinda for putting “lies” into Rachel’s head. His confrontation with Melinda leads with him trying to rape her once again but, this time she has the chance to tell him how she really feels. Melinda reacts to the confrontation by
In the story Speak, the theme is to speak up for yourself. Some quotes and reasons on why that is the theme are, in the beginning of the story Melinda is an outcast, a quiet high school girl who splits everyone into factions who don't all get along very well. In the middle of the story Melinda thinks of herself as a loser, someone people shouldn't get close to and a freak. It is winter in the middle of the story, so the setting is cold and the mood is distrust for the reason Melinda doesn't think that she can trust anyone in believing her. In the end of the story, Melinda's mother thinks that Melinda can't cope with other people in the world just because of her silence. In this part of the story it's spring or as Melinda calls it, “mating season.” The mood in this section of the story is fear, and the reason for this is melinda shows fear towards Andy Evans, the fear is so strong she can't move.
Basically at the summer party before school started Melinda was raped. She was also drunk when it happened. Everyone at the party thought she called the cops to ruin the party, but she actually called the cops to report what happened to her. My opinion has changed about Melinda. Now I feel like Melinda is just being judged based on what they think happened instead of what actually happened. Melinda had a legit reason to call the cops and people are juding her without knowing the
I always try to keep an open mind and never place blame on any survivors, male or female. My experiences with friends growing up in abusive homes has allowed me time to process what steps I took to help them as well as what steps a younger me may have done better to assist them in their time of need. I will carry this with me in my practice and have an open mind about what enters the room as well as learn from their personal experiences, as each individual will have specific stories. As I am an unjudging individual, I feel a strength of mine is that I am a great active listener. The novel continually displayed many individuals in Samantha’s life that either did not listen, did not listen well enough, or brushed her pain off as a typical response. I strive to not be one of those individuals and to always pull out strengths of their situation and seek supervision whenever I need further training or support.
Anxiety or past events trigger people in many ways that impact their lifestyles. These themes are emphasized in director Jessica Sharzer’s version of Laurie Halse Anderson’s fiction novel Speak. Sharzer’s adaptation involves minor changes to the plot and characters. Themes from the original version of Anderson’s book are changed, but Sharzer’s film maintains most themes including some emphasized themes compared to others. The film version presents a girl who doesn’t speak much named Melinda Sordino due to a tragic stage of her life. Although Melinda remains, certain themes from the book were removed like communication with people who used to be close. In general, the director,s film highlights the novel’s theme using voice to speak up for oneself, despite the fact that the novel’s themes don’t recall the importance of family and relationships.
The chapter opens up talking about autobiographical memory and what determines what particular life events we tend to remember. We commonly remember milestone events and highly emotional events; the amygdala being the key structure for those emotional memories (Goldstein, 2015). While emotions can improve memory consolidation, it can also impair memory in some situations. When I think of my memory being impaired due to emotions, I try to remember back to car accidents. I cannot really remember anything from this one accident that I got into with my friends, all I remember certainly is that I blacked out for a while. On the other hand, I feel like I can perfectly remember the day of my high school graduation with my best friends. However, after
Growing up, I've had parents that like to share a lot of very in-depth memories with me. I used to always ask myself, “How do they always remember things so clearly?”, until eventually it hit me. One day, I had gone out of town with my mother after physical therapy. We had traveled out to Long John Silver's, because it is a restaurant we've always loved. We got ourselves some great food before heading on out to various stores to pick out clothing and pick up groceries. After going through all the stores and eventually back out to the car, a conversation began about memories. We had some talks, and this is when I realized that one memory sparks numerous memories.