Melinda Gates

People are not heroes based on what they do. A hero should be recognized for what he inspires in others: welcoming, love, importance, and so much more. Warren Buffett is regarded by many as the epitome of a hero. Formerly a poor farm boy living in Nebraska, Warren Buffett transformed into arguably the most successful investor worldwide. Miraculously, Warren is still remarkably generous and modest even with the unimaginable power provided by his wealth. Warren Buffett is a hero to our society…

“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. Yet, silence helps to focus on the…

art teacher, states, “You just chose your destiny, you can’t change that” (12). Melinda is starting high school not being able to speak the truth about what happened to her and why she called the cops at a party with lots of high schoolers that summer. Her ex-best friend Rachel, who understood everything about Melinda, now hates her, and Melinda feels like an outcast. In the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda randomly chooses trees as her art project for the whole year, and is…

Is Melinda a realistic character? Yes i think she is, because high school girls all over the world are bullied and it hurts you even if you don’t notice it. The sad thing is that it pushes people to suicide or irrational behavior. Now if you in Melinda’s position of being a rape victim it would be very traumatizing and hard. “A scream starts in my gut-I can feel the cut, smell the dirt, leaves in my hair”. A quote from speak, that is so simple yet has so much depth. It was so traumatizing that…

This is Buffett’s style. We can learn from Buffett here by focusing on the inside, such as management, values, and good leadership, instead of the enticing for sale sign in the front lawn. Yet, how does one value a company? In an interview with Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, Buffet was asked a question along the lines of what are some key pieces he looks for when investing in a company. Buffett responded, "I have turned down business deals that were otherwise decent deals, because I didn 't like…

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…

Speak is a novel about Melinda Sordino, a freshman girl in high school who was raped, and then had to deal with all of the suffering that came with it. Throughout the school year, she slowly gets through the aftermath of her attack, but she does it all alone. While it may be said that Melinda’s isolation allowed her to come out of her shell and tell people what happened, her…

How much does Melinda speak throughout the novel? Is she actually silent? 2. What role does Melinda’s art class play throughout the course of the novel? 3. Who/what eventually has the greatest impact on Melinda finally speaking? 4. Why does Melinda not like mirrors? 5. Choose a symbol from the book (a mirror, the tree, the suffragettes, etc.) and explain how it affected Melinda in the novel. Why Speak should not be banned In today’s world, to…

Speak, Melinda Sordino declines to use her words, thereby declining the very thing that sets her apart from others, coming close to being one of these shadows. Throughout Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson associates a tree with Melinda to symbolize her foundations, pain, and healing. Throughout the book, readers follow the events of Melinda’s life, as well as occasional glimpses at her past. We view her roots, in…

the party. She spends most of her time alone because her parents don’t notice that she is depressed and in need of help. Many people who go through such a traumatic event often cannot talk to anyone about what happened. In the beginning of the book Melinda was just starting to show the symptoms of going through a traumatic event. She is starting to detach more from her parents than before. She is also showing a number of signs of depression. She isolates herself in a confined…