Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson: Melinda Character Analysis

In the novel, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character is Melinda. The novel begins following Melinda on her first day of high school. It is very apparent to the reader that Melinda’s life is not going as she would like. On the bus ride to school she sits by herself and at the end of the ride she is the only person who nobody chose to sit with. At the school assembly the other girls, who Melinda notes used to be her friends, whisper and laugh when they see Melinda. This obviously affects Melinda, although she acts as though it means nothing. The entire first day of high school unfolds in a similar manner to the assembly. Melinda seems rather unfazed by these events likely because she is familiar with them. Melinda desperately wants to tell her old best friend, Rachel, about what really happened during the summer. It can be inferred that nobody really knows what happened to Melinda that night at the party. It is know that Melinda called the cops who came and crashed the …show more content…
Her teacher has tasked her with creating various interpretations of a tree. It is apparent that while Melinda is certainly not in love with her art class, she does enjoy it more than any of her other classes. Melinda likely enjoys her art class because it gives her a chance to express her feelings. Through her art Melinda is able to show how emotionally hurt she is from her traumatic experience over the summer. Her art is a way for her to vent all of the emotions she bottles up. Melinda feels like she is unable to talk to anyone about what happened to her. She expresses her pain through physical acts. Melinda is constantly biting her lip when there is something that brings her stress or reminds her of the events of the past summer. On some occasions she bites her lip so hard that she draws blood. This is a sign of how depressed she is. Melinda feels trapped by all of her emotions and has nobody who she trusts to talk to about what