Speak
By: Payton Young
Summary
This book will keep you reading just so you can find out the ending. You are introduced to the narrator without her name, and you later find out her name is Melinda. Melinda is going into high school. Over the summer Melinda calls the police on the party and got everyone in trouble, for what reason? No one knows. After that, everyone hates Melinda for what she did, even her "best friend" without even knowing her reasoning behind it. Shes very upset all throughout the book and goes through a really hard time. She didn't want to open up to her parents because she was afraid of their reaction. Eventually, Melinda tells her ex best friend Rachel the truth and she doesn't even care. On page 162 it states "Rachel looks at me but doesn't say anything. She must have gotten my note - I mailed it to her over a week ago. I stand up. Rachel gives us a half wave and says "Ciao." Andy puts his arm around her waist and pulls her close to his body as they float out the door." Melinda ratted out the party because a boy at the party named Andy raped her. And the time that Melinda chooses to tell Rachel is the wrong time because Andy is Rachel's boyfriend. After Melinda spills the truth, everyone suddenly feels bad for her and has sympathy for her because they finally understand what happened. Everyone finally understood Melinda's reasoning behind it and now they stand by her.
Melinda
Conflict/Resolution
The type conflict Melinda encountered was both character vs. society and character vs. character. Both of these types of conflict apply to Speak because not only did Melinda have a different understanding of what she did than society, but she lost her best friend too which is where the character vs. character comes in. Melinda made a decision to call the police on a party for specific reasons that society didn't understand which caused everyone to dislike her, including her best friend Rachel, which caused drama between the two of them. Melinda solved the conflict by speaking up and coming out about what happened. She finally spoke up about calling the police because she was raped. In the end everyone felt sympathy for her. For example on pages 183 and 184 it says "I push the notebook back to her. She stares at the words. She pulls her chair around to my side of the table. Oh my God, I am so sorry, she writes. Why didn't you tell me?" This quote shows how people had sympathy for her once she spoke up.
Theme
Textual Evidence
Book Review
Citations
- Charny, Irina. "Tree Of LIfe." Irina Charny Mosaics. Church of the Resurrection; Pleasant Hill, California, 2016. Web.
- Heuvel, Jake Vanden. "Speak Theme Presentation." Prezi. Jake Vanden Heuvel, 11 Dec. 2012. Web.
- Person, and Yesi Silva. "SPEAK." Prezi.com. Yesi Silva, 9 July 2014. Web. 16 May 2016.
- "Speak (Anderson Novel)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 15 May 2016.
- "Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson: Lesson Plan Ideas." HubPages. HubPages, n.d. Web. 16 May 2016.
- Speak Movie Trailer 2004 HD Kristen Stewart. Dir. Http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcO9wi9ThtjuXvBLvh_fG0w.YouTube. YouTube, 14 Dec. 2014. Web. 16 May 2016.