Analysis Of Obstacles In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

Decent Essays
In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda Sordino is faced with many obstacles throughout the course of the book. However,she had to face a serious obstacle at a summer party that could and did change the rest of her life forever. Even after this she still had more and more obstacles to face as highschool dragged on.

Throughout the book Melinda faces many hindrances, but it all started at the summer party. Everyone was drinking and having a fun time until Andy Evans, Or as melinda likes to refer to him as “it”, took advantage of her and raped her. Like every scared girl would she called the cops but didn’t say anything about her being raped. So as she started school mostly everyone hated her for ruining the party, just another

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    This shows that not only was Melinda damaged externally, she was also hurt internally. As one reads the book, they can observe that the whole year, Melinda barely speaks as a result of the fact that she is still not able to cope with what happened at that party. Imagine more young teenage girls going through that. Melinda definitely did what we would all do in this situation. She called the police and told them that she was in…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Speak essay Speak is a story that follows a high school Freshman, named Melinda Sordino, as she goes through the five stages of grief. The reason she goes through the five stages of grief, is because she was raped at the beginning of her 9th grade year at a high school party. She was bullied for calling the cops on the guy who raped her at this party. Even though, the people didn't understand why she called them. Though she was harassed at school, her problems at home were just as bad.…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Melinda struggles to find her voice again while forgiving for what happened to her, expressing herself in a way that her art has given her the answers that she has been looking for all along, all she needed was a little encouragement, faith, and hope. Melinda starts off high school with no friends and the entire high school body despising her existence. She struggles to speak and find her voice as she replays the tragic night; Andy Evans raped her at the party after she had been drinking. As she struggles to speak to anyone about the incident, she says “It's easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it.…

    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As the English Department moves forward to approve literary selections for the upcoming school year, including Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson will contribute to the challenging yet engaging text selections students will already read. As a teacher at PSHS, Speak will be aligned with the curriculum, developmentally appropriate and will especially appeal to the incoming freshmen’s because it helps make difficult decisions regarding common issues this grade level may encounter.…

    • 70 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Charecter Is Inhumane

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages

    She was raped and it silencted her. She tried as hard as she could not to draw attentin to herself. Melinda felt dead inside. She felt like it was her fault even though it wasn't. Over the course of the book she meets charecters along the way of her school year.…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, the majority of the conflicts are caused by silence of fearful children. Whether they’re afraid of backlash, judgment, or adults not listening to them, these people don’t speak out, and suffer as a result. The PSA intends to show the dangers of situations that are brought up in Speak. For instance, the presentation includes the fact that undergoing a stressful event can often cause depression. Andy Evans raping Melinda certainly qualifies as stressful, not to mention her starting high school and being bullied.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Other students think Melinda is being such a jerk who is trying to make people to get in a trouble. Therefore, she completely gets isolated from her friends and other students. The author of this book demonstrates Melinda's depression and overcoming her ordeal by usage of symbolism for…

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Isolation from the outside world will only worsen one’s inner problems. That was a proven theme in Laurie Halse Anderson’s ‘Speak. ’From the get go, the main character, Melinda, isolated herself from the outside world. At a party during summer vacation, Melinda was sexually assaulted by Andy Evans, aka IT. For the majority of the year, she kept to herself.…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel, Melinda did not know that she can be brave and confident enough to talk and shout for help. She does not know that she is capable of fighting back, yet in the end, she realized she fought back and shouted for help. It shows us that she just have to be strong and start to speak up because if she wasn’t strong and loud nobody could have heard her and she was raped again by Andy Evans. We should believe in ourselves and be strong because if we won’t we might just be in trouble or people won’t know what our backstory…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Whether one decides to believe in fate, destiny, free will, or anything else, one thing is always true: people make choices. Every day we make choices. They can be small ones, like choosing to tip five percent more at a restaurant or choosing to wear a green tie over a blue one. But many of the choices a person makes are larger than these, choosing a field to major in, or choosing a spouse, perhaps. Clearly, our choices are important because they determine our character and future, but they are also important because many, if not all, of our choices, directly affect others and the people around them.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Now, Melinda begins to turn into a person able to speak up for herself, like when she says no to help Heather, and is healing. Too busy growing into a better person, Melinda doesn’t have time to deal with Heather’s minor problems. Melinda is finally able to speak her true emotions, since she feels empowered from her major…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Too often do we take for granted the basic ability to speak in fear of critical judgment from our peers. The pressures of fitting into society as normal citizens brutally crushes the confidence and dreams of a happy life for Helen Keller in “A Word for Everything,” and “Living with Dyslexia,” written by Gareth Cook. In her early childhood, Helen Keller recalls standing on her porch feeling dumb and uncertain of what the future held for her due to being deaf and blind (Keller 145). Gareth Cook expresses his fear and shame when coming out with his disability of being dyslexic for it would impact his reputation and the integrity of his work (Cook 158). Helen and Gareth were born into the world with disabilities in learning which forced them to…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Communicating to Overcome Obstacles Communicating is something that grade nines especially seem to struggle with, but they do not seem to see exactly how important it is to communicate with others. Melinda Sordino, a grade nine student in Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak, struggles with speaking to other people ever since she was raped at a summer party. The figurative ice in her throat is one of the main reasons why Melinda cannot speak to others even though she wants to. Instead, Melinda learns to communicate through art. Using turkey bones from thanksgiving, Melinda creates a structure that shows her feelings.…

    • 926 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Silence is uncommon today when sharing what is on everyone’s mind is just a click away. Malala Yousafzai expresses that, “We realize the importance of our voice only when we are silenced.” Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson follows the freshman year after the rape of Melinda Sordino who struggles between keeping her mouth shut and using her voice against her attacker. The novel explores the crippling power of being voiceless to illustrate the importance of speaking up. Melinda demonstrates the difficulty of confession when no one will listen, preventing healing and justice.…

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In her article, “’But What Do You Mean?’ Woman and Men in Conversation”, by Deborah Tannen she discusses the difference in talking between men and women. The distinction between how women communicate and how men communicate. The difference is striking because one does not realize how different women and men talk unless it is revealed to them somehow such as reading this article. Tannen started by apologies.…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays