Many people in the world experience very arduous situations in life, whether from failure, a loss of a loved one, or even being disabled. For teenagers, it may have to deal with strenuous amounts of work from school or with peer pressure. Though the pain may seem unbearable, Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak indicates the purpose of surviving through rough times. Melinda Sordino, the main character in Speak, is not having a great life. She has ruined an end-of-summer party for calling the police. Now, Melinda is left with no one to talk to, with no shoulder to cry on. She starts her first year of high school wondering how to survive. Eventually, Melinda makes it through. Throughout the novel, Melinda undergoes through life problems relating
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Because she is so depressed, she counts down the days to when high school is going to be completely over. School is nothing but a burden to her. “Only 699 days and 7 class periods until graduation.” (6) she says in the beginning. A lot of high school freshmen can relate to this. They realize that high school is much different from middle school and that it can be very stressful due to more demanding work. Even though it seems like Melinda is suffering, she manages to “make it through the first two weeks of school without a nuclear meltdown.” (14). For someone like her, that is quite impressive. Most teenagers who are dejected tend to give up on school, their family, their activities; just everything in general. Melinda, however, overcomes it. Towards the end of the novel, Melinda soon thinks that “…high school is one long, hazing activity: if you are tough enough to survive this, they’ll let you become an adult. I hope it’s worth it.” (191). She soon realizes that in order to survive and reach adulthood, she needs to survive the pressures of high school. High school may not seem pleasurable to many teens now, but as time goes by, it will mean something to them. For Melinda, this is her key to pull through
Because she is so depressed, she counts down the days to when high school is going to be completely over. School is nothing but a burden to her. “Only 699 days and 7 class periods until graduation.” (6) she says in the beginning. A lot of high school freshmen can relate to this. They realize that high school is much different from middle school and that it can be very stressful due to more demanding work. Even though it seems like Melinda is suffering, she manages to “make it through the first two weeks of school without a nuclear meltdown.” (14). For someone like her, that is quite impressive. Most teenagers who are dejected tend to give up on school, their family, their activities; just everything in general. Melinda, however, overcomes it. Towards the end of the novel, Melinda soon thinks that “…high school is one long, hazing activity: if you are tough enough to survive this, they’ll let you become an adult. I hope it’s worth it.” (191). She soon realizes that in order to survive and reach adulthood, she needs to survive the pressures of high school. High school may not seem pleasurable to many teens now, but as time goes by, it will mean something to them. For Melinda, this is her key to pull through