Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

What if you were raped and nobody knew about it? In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda was raped and she didn’t tell anyone. Before school started Melinda was at a party and she was drunk. She was raped in the woods that night by an older senior , Andy Evans. She called the police and she was blamed for calling the police on the party but, its because she never told anyone she was raped. Through many different events and people Melinda changes from being shy to feeling confident. I will show you how trees represent melinda through the beggining , middle, and end
In the beginning of the book Melinda was very shy and self conscious. Since everyone thought she called the police they didn’t want to be friends with her so she was going into high school with no friends." I have entered high school with the wrong hair , wrong clothes , the wrong attitude . And I don't have anyone to sit with . I am an Outcast.” (4 Anderson) This made her very shy and she just minded her own business. On the first day of school Melinda was getting on the bus and she didn’t know where to sit. She thought if she sat in the back she would get made fun of but if she sat in the front she would look like a little kid. She chose the front because she doesn’t want to walk down the bus aisle past her friends because they were mad at her. She was being shy and didn’t want to make up with her friends. This also happens at lunch because her old friends didn’t want to sit with her so she was going to sit with another new girl Heather but she didn't get the chance to. She thought, “I am Outcast” (Anderson 4). She didn’t want people to judge her on where she sat so she was debating. At lunch she was walking back from buying her lunch and a ...

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...and throughout life.

In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson the main character Melinda learns many things. Melinda used to be shy but now because of big events and different people she is confident. Because of the rape situation, Melinda was very shy and self-conscious. People like Ivy and Heather helped her to get through it even though they may not have realized. Melinda also began to realize who she is.”There has been some progress in this whole tree project...I've gone through different phases.” (pg. 151) Which her tree project shows She became confident and learned to stand up for herself. As you can see, it is better to express your feelings than to keep it a secret. Even if it’s a secret that’s so hard to show, you will be better off if you are open to the world. If you keep all of your feelings inside then you will end up like Melinda used to be.