Speak
By: Laurie Halse Anderson
Summary
Melinda Sordino is left with no friends due to a party she called the cops on over the summer, the reasoning, unknown, to everyone except her and Andy Evans. Just as things start to get worse with Melinda, she is left with not knowing if she should tell someone what had happened to her that night, or keep it all to herself. Melinda is put in a dangerous situation when she reaches out to one of her old friends, ready to speak the truth. Everything changes, and things from that night start to come back to haunt her.
Melinda Sordino
Melinda is a sophomore at Merryweather High. Being raped over the summer at a party put her in a state of depression. Ever since her best friend Rachel stopped talking to her, Melinda does not have many friends, until a girl named Heather came along. While at school Melinda spent most of her time in the janitor's closet or in the art classroom, with Mr. Freeman. Melinda is described as an average looking girl who has auburn hair, wears clothes she does not like and while looking a mirror she says her lips are chapped like " A thousand bleeding, crusted lips."
pg.125
Survivors
Survivors of a sexual assault are 3x more likely to suffer from depression, 26x more likely to abuse drugs, 13x more likely to abuse alcohol, 6x more likely to suffer from PTSD, and 4x more likely to contemplate suicide.
Sexual Assault Ribbon
The teal ribbon is the symbol of sexual violence prevention.
Reduce the Risk
Be prepared
Be alert
Be assertive
Book Review
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson deserves 5/5 stars. Speak deserves 5 stars because it focuses on the hardships Melinda went through after being raped and then how she attempted to overcome them amid being attacked again. The story shows progression on how when Melinda first began her art class she was unable to figure out how to make her tree, but by the end of the year, she knew how to complete it because she felt she had a story to tell.
Textual Evidence
Melinda calling Andy Evans IT resembles that she does not want to consider him a human, he is a monster who hurt her and who should not be able to do it again. "I should probably tell someone, just tell someone. Get it over with. Let it out, blurt it out." is one of the quotes I liked from the book because it shows that Melinda was conflicted on whether or not to tell someone about what had happened to her. Melinda had wanted to tell someone for a long time but felt she was unable to because of the way someone might react. Her friends might not believe her and her parents could make the whole situation bigger than she wanted.
Theme
The theme of the book Speak is growth. Melinda grows in the book through her artwork and her social life. At the beginning of the book Melinda was afraid to tell anyone what had happened to her. When she realized what had happened to her could potentially happen to someone else she finally decided to speak up. Melinda also showed growth through her artwork. Throughout the year she had made many different trees, but couldn't complete the perfect one until the end of the story.
Conflict/Resolution
The conflict Melinda is dealing with would be both man vs. man and man vs. self. Melinda's conflict would be man vs. man because she was raped by a boy at a party, Andy Evans, and all alone she had to defend herself from him. Andy continuously put himself around Melinda making her uncomfortable and driving her to leave her new friends and hide from him when necessary. Melinda's conflict is also man vs. self because she is having a hard time contemplating weather or not to tell someone what happened to her. Melinda is not sure if telling someone would benefit her or if it would hurt her more than it already has. She decides to have this internal fight with herself until she realizes someone else could be hurt.