“Speak” Central Idea Essay Most of society has probably gone through a time that they will never forget. This time could be exciting, cheerful, or just traumatic. However, times like those make us who we are which is strengthening. In “Speak”, Laurie Halse Anderson takes us on an adventure with a dynamic character named Melinda. Melinda was like any other teenager, until a traumatic experience turns her into a judgemental and isolated human being. Throughout the book, the reader follows Melinda into her deepest thoughts and see how she overcomes the event that traumatized her. An inspection of the novel “Speak” declares how Laurie Anderson establishes the central idea that growth is always happening, despite good or bad events through the
…show more content…
These specific events target how the dynamic character grows in her speech as the book is literally called speak. In the beginning of the narrative, Melinda feels like “there is a beast inside [her] gut, [she] can hear it scraping away at the inside of [her] ribs”(51) which can be seen as slightly demonic, but the meaning is deeper than it seems. In this passage, Melinda could be feeling like something from the inside is tearing her apart to shreds. This could be all of her thoughts that she wants to say, but never does. There is so much stored inside of her, that they all want to come out and express themselves, but she puts them in a cage that could be represented as her ribs. Then later in the story, when Melinda’s art teacher, Mr.Freeman, states that Melinda has been through a lot, Melinda says “let me tell you about it”(198) meaning that Melinda is now letting her feelings out of the cage she puts herself in. Going from not speaking at all to talking to a teacher about her most traumatic experience is hands off the most growth someone can have in both their confidence and security in their words. Not anyone can talk about the burdened events they have experienced for it could be a sensitive topic. However, Melinda did it and this is how she grows as a
These specific events target how the dynamic character grows in her speech as the book is literally called speak. In the beginning of the narrative, Melinda feels like “there is a beast inside [her] gut, [she] can hear it scraping away at the inside of [her] ribs”(51) which can be seen as slightly demonic, but the meaning is deeper than it seems. In this passage, Melinda could be feeling like something from the inside is tearing her apart to shreds. This could be all of her thoughts that she wants to say, but never does. There is so much stored inside of her, that they all want to come out and express themselves, but she puts them in a cage that could be represented as her ribs. Then later in the story, when Melinda’s art teacher, Mr.Freeman, states that Melinda has been through a lot, Melinda says “let me tell you about it”(198) meaning that Melinda is now letting her feelings out of the cage she puts herself in. Going from not speaking at all to talking to a teacher about her most traumatic experience is hands off the most growth someone can have in both their confidence and security in their words. Not anyone can talk about the burdened events they have experienced for it could be a sensitive topic. However, Melinda did it and this is how she grows as a