It was a typical day for Chad, going about the halls picking on every vulnerable person they saw, that was until he saw her. It was the first day in years Sophia had worn short sleeves, being scared that people might judge her for being ‘attention seeking’, but today she felt content with herself, brave enough to show people how strong she is. When Chad saw her scars, he realized every single one of these people had their own stories. That was the day Chad Willington had stood up to his friends. “Shut up, she’s just a girl trying to make it in high school and we are making it worst for her. So stop being such a typical jock and start being a good person. Everyone has their story that we don’t know about.” He then ran over towards Sophia, trying to save her from all this madness. “Hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t know that you had enough hard times as it is, I would’ve stood up to them earlier but I never really thought that people had their own stories.”
“Its fine, I’m fine. Don’t care about me please, just get out while you can.”
“Hey, Soph. You’re going to be alright.” That was the first time in years Sophia wanted to get out of this, I mean actually get out of it in a healthy way. Knowing that someone actually cares about her is comforting, it puts some comfort in her miserable life. Not only does Sophia look back to this on a daily basis, but so does Chad. Today during class, while Chad was thinking about this, the teacher had asked for a tutor for Sophia. Being at the top of the class, and wanting to help her so much, Chad volunteered to help. “Hey, Sophia do you want to meet at my house or yours for tutoring?”
“Yours please.” She pleaded because her house was a constant reminder of what is wrong with her, a reminder of how depressed...
... middle of paper ...
...at made me feel helpless. I never lost hope in her. I love her, she was my best friend and unannounced girlfriend. Every day I looked at her, I would notice something new, I came to love all these thing that no one else seemed to notice. I wish that I could’ve dug her out of this hole before it got too deep. I love you Sophia.” And he got off that stage managing to make her whole family cry as well as himself. He made a vow that day to go everywhere she wanted to and make a mark there. ‘Dear Sophia, I’m never leaving you. I love you. You mean so much, please don’t leave. We can get married and have 2 kids. Isn’t that what you want? I just want you to be happy, because where ever you are is where I’m most happy.’ This was the first thing he ever wrote to her, it was the day after he stood up for her so he put it into her coffin… Love really can happen at first sight.
It also explores ideas about prejudice of someone’s appearance and how friendship, peer pressure and family support contribute to complicating or resolving the problem. Through these core themes, Carl has doubt and worry, but also learns confidence and acceptance.
In conclusion, both Greene and Lorde discuss how disappointments as child have had positive affects on his/her lives as adults. Greene’s essay applied to me more than Lorde’s because I have never been judged by my appearance. I can’t relate to the fact of being cut from a team, but I can relate to the fact being successful with hard work.
In Phoebe’s Prince story, for instance, no amount of finger pointing or apportioning blame can address the underlying issues. For one, she was an emotionally disturbed girl who had tried to end her life before she got bullied in school. Apart from her depressive state, Phoebe had minimal communication of her challenges in school with her parents or any authority figures (teachers or even the school principal) in her life. These gaps are what are highlighted in this paper and hopefully when fully grasped can help to minimize the gaps that exist in our social
Hazel Grace, is a teenage girl who unfortunately suffers several of the cruelties of life, yet she is shining symbol of hope. Even though since she got diagnosed she quit school, her friends don’t exactly treat her like the girl she used to be she is as smart as can be, and kind at the same time. She has stayed alive lo...
The summer before ninth grade, Melinda and her friends attend their first high school party. Melinda meets a senior named Andy Evans. The two dance, talk, and kiss. As the night goes on, Andy becomes aggressive and rapes Melinda. In her drunken and terrified state, Melinda calls the cops but won’t tell anyone what happened to her. The entire school finds out Melinda is who crashed the party and everyone ditches her. During the early months of freshmen year, Melinda is without friends, and falls into a depressive state. She befriends a girl named Heather, who later ditches her due to her “low social hierarchy”. Rachel, Melinda’s former best friend, begins to date Andy. Scared and worried for her friend, Melinda decides she must tell her about that night. Rachel refuses to believe what she has to say and storms out. However, Rachel eventually believes Melinda the more she thinks about the story, and calls Andy out. When Melinda finally has enough courage to leave her closet for good, Andy locks her inside. The fuming man attempts to rape her again, but Melinda is not the same girl anymore. She slaps and scratches a...
Adversity affects the lives of many individuals. Through facing adversity people tend to show their true selves. In the novel “Speak” by Laurie Halse-Anderson, the main character Melinda, faces a few different types of adversity. One form of adversity that she faces is that she was sexually assaulted. Another type of adversity that Melinda goes through in this novel is that she loses all her friends and starts to lose her family as well. Throughout my life, I have faced many different types of adversity, one major thing that I have dealt with in my life is depression. Those who face adversity in their life can choose if they want to face it or to ignore it, and the outcome will prove what they chose to do.
“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.
Imagine you just moved far away, you have no friends, you are afraid to go near to your sibling, and you get made fun of all the time because of your looks. Can you imagine this yet? Well, this isn’t the worst of it. Imagine getting kicked off your sports team because your coach thought you were “handicap.” Imagine your brother is a murderer. Imagine the victim of this murder was your friend. It’s hard to imagine such things, but this is the hard reality that Tangerine’s protagonist Paul Fisher had to live through.
Melinda was an outcast and loner in high school who was overwhelmed, fearful, and confused with her life and her environment at school. She was always silent in class and afraid to speak in front of people. Many students today might feel the need to fit in with other people so they wouldn’t have to be looked down upon. As we take a look at Melinda’s life we’ll be able to see how she handles her daily conflicts. In the book, Speak, Melinda Sordino, an incoming freshman at Merryweather High, starts her year off with a terrible start. She’s stuck with a mean history teacher, by who she calls Mr. Neck and a whole bunch of other weird teachers like her English teacher of who she calls, Hairwomen, because of her crazy, uncombed hair. Her favorite teacher would seem to be her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, because he seems to be the nicest and most reasonable. Every student, even her ex-best friend, Rachel Bruin, gives her nasty looks and treats her rudely. All this trouble started when Melinda called the cops at an end-of-summer party. Everybody thinks she did that just to bust them and get all the people in trouble but instead, she called the cops for something more terrifying. During the night of that party, she was raped by a senior who goes to Merryweather High, Andy Evans, by who she calls IT or Andy Beast. She was too scared and didn’t know what to do so she called the cops. Because of this, now everyone in school is disgusted and hateful of her. Though most of the students didn’t like her, she did become sort of “distant” friends with Heather, Ivy, and her science lab partner, David Petrakis. With all the drama, sadness, and conflict involved in Melinda’s life, she still seems to manage and finish the school year without ...
...her father’s intense racism and discrimination so she hid the relationship at all costs. Connie realized that she could never marry an African American man because of her father’s racial intolerance. If she were to have a mixed child, that child would be greatly discriminated against because of hypodecent. One day, Connie’s dad heard rumors about her relationship so he drove her car to the middle of nowhere, and tore it apart. Then, he took his shotgun and went to look for Connie and her boyfriend. Connie was warned before her father found her, and she was forced to leave town for over six months. Connie’s father burned her clothes, so she had to leave town with no car, no clothes and no money at sixteen years old. Connie had lived in poverty her entire life, but when she got kicked out she learned to live with no shelter and sometimes no food at all.
...atrice tells him ‘I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest’. This is a wonderful contrast to all the deception it has taken to bring them together with a relationship that will not fail.
Melinda’s life, dealing with the impact of her rape, revolves around increasing pressure and poor relationships. This produces further serious and significant dilemmas. Many teens internationally relate to Melinda, she is a flag a flag that represents the many young adults that encounter problems akin to Melinda. The dominant theme of adolescence in the book connects Melinda to the real world. The unfortunate circumstances shed light upon the many difficulties adolescents withstand. Melinda’s character is seen in many teens that confront rape, staying silent, and depression. If youth struggles to maintain a balance of emotions, because of abuse, will the future be the same?
A girl stood facing a rusty mirror in the bathroom. She looked at the reflection in the mirror as her head went down in sorrow. Soon tears ran down her face, her face damp with sweat. When she thought no one was around, she screeched with anguish into the mirror “Why am I so ugly? Why can’t I be like the other girls?” Echoes of her screams filled the hallway of Forest Park Middle School.
"Her name was Connie. She was fifteen and she had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck to glance into mirrors or checking other people's faces to make sure her own was all right" (1). This quote shows the reader an astonishing truth about Connie. It shows her true insecurity that is rarely demonstrated to the outside world. Although she does not necessarily show this to the average bystander, by taking a closer look at her premature idea of acceptance, it also shows her constant yearn for approval from others to help boost her ego. At only the young age of fifteen, she is already attempting to prove her maturity and show that she can be independent. She does this by showing off her sexuality and strutting around. By showing off her
Before Miles went to his new school his father said, “No drugs. No drinking. No cigarettes.” (Green 10 pdf) Miles’ father warned him very heavily about not doing drugs, however, he did drugs in high school before. When Miles goes to high school, he gets lost in the world of peer pressure and he end up doing drugs, drinking alcohol and smoking. In the real world, many high school students tend to fall into the traps of peer pressure and they end up drinking and doing drugs illegally. This story captures the real life perspective of high school with peer pressure, stress and troubles, instead of the fake, “all smiles” perspective of high school that some movies, such as High School Musical, portrays. Additionally, the main character, Alaska, relates to the world because she is a girl that lives a hard life and is depressed on the inside, yet she still manages to have a smile on her face. Many people in the world are going through very hard times, however, they still manage to be happy or they try to give the appearance that they’re happy. Personally, I can relate to Alaska Young’s situation, after losing my grandma and uncle to illness a couple of months ago, I am faced with tremendous amounts of depression and deep sadness. However, on the outside, I tend to have a smile on my face and I don’t show others how I truly feel deep down on the inside. Alaska does this for a while and she slowly