Curt Anderson

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler is set in 2024 in a world thrown into chaos by poverty, company control, and violence. The main character named Lauren Olamina is forced to travel north because her gated community was destroyed along with most of her neighbors. The traveling group consists of Zahra, Harry, and Lauren but it grows along the way. Harry and Zahra were in the same gated community with Lauren. Other characters that are included are people that Lauren comes across on her journey…

In our world, there is a common misconception that everything is possible in the United States. For example, people often image a life with a spouse, home, and white picket fence. However, in reality, there is a huge difference between this common misconception that everyone can achieve this picture-perfect life and what life often entails for many. In fact, Gwendolyn Brooks’ “Kitchenette Building,” Langston Hughes’ “Let America Be America Again,” and William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” all…

Each individual has an identity in relation to other individuals, communities and most importantly the world. This identity is developed by how an individual views oneself and the world and in turn how the world sees them. An individual’s identity changes from the amount of power an individual has in relation to other individuals and groups. Through shaping your identity your power changes along with your relationship to others and the world. Notably some identities you’re born with race, gender…

The TED Talk I watched was titled Why you should talk to strangers. Kio Stark, the presenter of the speech, discussed why there are many benefits to talking to people we don’t know. According to Stark, not talking to strangers causes the opportunity to create unexpected connections. She said people do not talk to strangers because of our fears. Her speech concluded with Stark encouraging people use their senses instead of fears and outlining the steps of how to appropriately talk to strangers.…

Notably, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson was a banned book, just as The Cather in the Rye by J.D. Salinger was. One man, named Richard Swier , even deemed Speak to be “child pornography. ” Although it contains one scene where Melinda is raped, it is not graphic or cause gratification in reading. Speak is a cautionary tale about the emotional aftermath of rape. It tackles bullying, depression, sexual harassment, and family dysfunction. It teaches children, teenagers, and people of all ages to…

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…

The book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is about Melinda Sordino, a ninth-grader in Merryweather High School in Syracuse, New York. From the outside, she might have looked like an ordinary girl, but inside she held a secret that had withdrawn her to a life of silence and melancholy. She had gone through a traumatizing event that had changed her whole life to the point where she had lost all hope and became self-destructive. Melinda was raped by Andy Evans, a senior, at a party before the start…

her Mother, Grandfather, and her cook Eliza. By the time the fever epedemic breaks out, Mattie has to be strong in order to survive. Anderson uses descriptive words and sentence varitey to show the theme of the story; bravery. The author creates this lesson to show that someones bravery can save an entire city. The theme in Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson is bravery. Eliza, Mattie, and Stephen Girard all show multiple acts of bravery. For example, Eliza along with Mattie risk their…

lips. It looks like my mouth belongs to someone else, someone I don’t even know.” ( Anderson 17) Melinda cannot stop biting her lips. She wants to stop but she cannot do it. She does not recognize herself anymore. Symbolism can be used in so many ways in a book and it can have a lot of meaning in the novel when you use symbolism. Mouth and lips have the greatest impact in the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson because it shows how she expressed herself throughout the story. First and…

Trees in Speak In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, a young girl named Melinda is raped at a party over the summer and calls the cops. The party is busted and everyone blames Melinda for ruining the fun, even though they did not know the full story. When school starts again, she is friendless and bullied. Nobody knows that she was raped; they think she called the cops because people were drinking. Melinda rarely talks because she is afraid of what people will think when she speaks. The…