Character Analysis Of Melinda In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

Everyone has hardships that they come across, but what really matters is the way they overcome them. In the book “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character Melinda Sordino does not try to face her hardships, she wants her problems to just disappear, but what makes her different is that she learns that saying nothing will just make her problems worse. The author characterized Melinda as very brave, although it took time for her to accept her problems. Melinda tries to admit what happened to her, deal with the bullies in her school, and tries to help her ex-best friend, Rachel to see with whom she is dealing with.

In the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Andy Evans impacted Melinda Sordino in a very negative way. Melinda was raped by Andy Evans at a party weeks before she started high school as a freshman. Melinda, who was scared and unsure, called the cops. But she was too horrified to say anything and ends up going home before they arrived. But the police do come and arrest people at the party.

In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda a young incoming freashman starts off high school depressed and avoided by her classmates and friends. Over the summer Melinda attends a party where she has no choice but to call the police, resulting in all her friends to dismiss and turn against her completely including her best friend Rachel. When Melinda begins high school detached from all of her classmates she tries to befriend Heather, a new student who is unaware of the party conflict. “...we kind of paired up at the beginging of the year when I was new and didnt know anyone and that was really sweet of you but I think its time for the both of us to admit that we...just...are...very...differnt” (105 Anderson) Heather soon realizes

In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character, Melinda Sordino experiences a disturbing event over the summer of her eighth grade year. She was sexually assaulted by Andy Evans at a party. Melinda nearly loses her mind totally as she began shutting down on all fronts. However, she slowly recovered from her traumatizing experience, and eventually learned how to live with what happened.

In Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda Sordino experiences something that is almost impossible to forget: rape. After sexually assaulted by a senior as an 8th grader, the one thing she needs, someone to talk to, becomes absent in her life when all of her friends leave her. Many other turning points occur during the story that change and affect her identity. The major turning points that affect her identity are being raped in a field at a party, being attacked again in a closet at her school, and everyone finding out the truth about what happened in the end.

A person tends to be influenced by their surroundings. Whether it be family, friends, teachers or society in general. In the book, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character, Melinda, struggles to find herself. Her life changes drastically within months. The two most important factors that contributed to who she is today, are her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, and her now ex-friend, Heather.

Laurie Halse Anderson’s fiction novel “Speak” relates the story of a girl from Syracuse, New York. This story surrounds Melinda Sordino who was victimized by Andy Evans at a high school party. She was afterwards labeled an outcast within her school after calling the police to the barn where they all were, getting many of her friends and classmates in trouble for underage drinking. Since none of Melinda’s friends were aware of the rape, they all believed she called the police just to bust them. In the second half of Melinda’s school year, Andy Evans confronts her and attempts to rape her again; however, this is when Melinda finally finds her voice and gets help before Andy Evans takes advantage of

Every single person has a secret or an experience that they prefer not to talk about. In this case, Melinda Sordino suffers with the traumatic memory of rape. Within the novel, Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Sordino’s entire life changes as Andy Evans takes advantage of her innocence by raping her during a party in August. As a result, Sordino’s trauma causes the alteration of her personality and perspective of the world. Sordino ventures throughout the story to rediscover herself as a person and faces several obstacles such as family troubles, disrespectful peers, and the person who has inflicted her with the most mental agony she can possibly withstand.

Have you ever spent nights where you slept with hot tears rolling down your cheeks? Days where you wake up with the same nightmare as yesterday? Imagine that all you desired was someone to be beside you, to have a friend. “Speak”, by Laurie Hase Anderson reveals the bitter life of a high school outcast, Melinda Sordino. This story uncovers how Melinda manages to confess an appalling truth to a group of friends that despised her ever since she called the cops at an 8th-grade summer party.

Courage When someone goes through something really tough it can be really hard to be courageous again, but if they want to feel stronger, little acts of courage go a long way. The book Speak is by Laurie Halse Anderson and focuses on a girl that went through something horrible. She had to be courageous and finally stood up for herself. Everyone in the school hated her and gave her looks, but she didn’t give up, even though it got very hard. Courage is needed for different reasons and different people, sometimes it can be talking to someone, going somewhere, or standing up for yourself.

Although in the story Melinda is scared to speak and open up about her harsh secrets, at the end she opens up and shows that a person needs to be strong and fight for their rights. Melinda tries to make herself fit in with classmates but has a hard time. “I am outcast” is how she refers to herself at school (4, Anderson). This means that she is not accepted by the other people at her school and does not have a bestfriend like most teenage girls do. She is all alone and does not have someone to support her in her time of need. The tree she tries to draw in art class is a big symbol of her life and how she begins to see herself as a brave person and face her problems. She overcomes her fear of Andy, makes new friends, and becomes brave. She faces these struggles through hard work and grows as a person like a seed growing into a large tree that's full of life. Speak, a book with a static and scared main character or a growing girl that sprouts into a tree of life and strength.

One of my all-time favorite books is Speak by Laurie Hales Anderson that I read back in ninth grade. A captivating book that captures what it means to be a teenager in today’s society. Speak is about Melinda Sordino, a freshman in high school , who stops all types of verbal communication caused by a traumatizing incident one summer night. Her isolation continues not only at school but at home, hiding her secret from her workaholic parents, that remain clueless from her trauma and signs of depression, suffering to speak, biting her scab filled lips, skipping school, and dealing with the taunting of her peers .The only thing that keeps her sane is her uncanny mental commentary.

Topic Four: Write an essay using plot development in Speak to clearly analyze how the symbol of a tree represents Melinda’s emotional and mental growth to deal with what happened to her.

Constantly stated, is the idea that high school is one of the best times of life. Parties, friends, and endless days of fun is the American stereotype. These dreams dissipate, though, if you start freshman year with a record of zero friends. In the young adolescent novel titled Speak, written by Laurie Halse Anderson, the reader encounters the feeling to lack the most powerful tool ever given to you: the tool of words. Melinda’s endeavor commence after an end of summer senior party, where she was cruelly raped. Rather than sharing her pain with the world, and achieving justice, she chose to keep her secret locked up, because she did not know how to reveal it. Speaking out would have dramatically changed her life for the better. The main theme

Have you ever made a deep connection to a character in a book you have read? The Outsiders by S.E. Hampton is a fiction novel that talks about how life is on the East side of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The main character is Ponyboy Curtis and has two older brothers, Soda Pop and Darry, they show what life is like in a gang in the situations that they were put in. I feel like I have the most in common with Darrel Curtis in the novel The Outsiders because he's the oldest and has to be the leader of his family.