Fear In Melinda's Speak

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IT stands for the terror being held over Melinda’s head, sealing her lips, not letting a word of her stolen innocents be heard. Throughout this book Melinda struggles to find her old stronger self. While only thinking of ways to hide from IT and the incidence she closes herself off with her fears. Not letting any friends help her or telling her parents Melinda stayed quiet trying to let it all blow over. Melinda began high school with high hopes, sure that nothing could bring her down, no stupid little kid games, no middle school classes, but that mindset was put to a halt when IT appeared in her life. At a summer party it started as even more of a fairytale than expected, an upperclassman was even talking to her, until IT took her into the woods. “IT creep[ed] up”(86) on her and shattered her high school hopes, looking down upon her as if he was superior. Her perfect fairytale year would no longer be a reality, with no friends, and no one to trust Melinda locked herself away with her fears. …show more content…
She was attempting to unzip her lips and explain her recent past. IT was shadowing Melinda wherever she went, whether in her imagination, dreams, or in reality. IT forced Melinda into hiding and tore apart any specks of a social life she used to have. IT followed her home and was “in [her] nightmares and [she] [couldn’t] wake up.”(45) No matter how hard she tried to stay hidden, the only thing that would help assuage her fears would be speaking up. Only one word will really help end her fears for good, and that word is

Laurie Halse Anderson Isolation

suffocating. In the novel “Speak,” Laurie Halse Anderson demonstrates how the combination of trauma and a lack of childhood can cause a myriad of psychological obstacles. Throughout the novel, we see how Melinda’s continuous isolation stems from her parents discouraging demeanor, and how her struggles are amplified by PTSD and a lack of comfort. Firstly, Melinda’s childhood was marked by isolation, made worse by her parents’ consistent neglect and lack of emotional support. When Melinda’s grades begin to slip…

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Laurie Halse Anderson Speak Analysis

“Speak”, by Laurie Halse Anderson, shows Melinda’s ‘coming of age’ through her thoughts, struggles, and difficult transitional period from middle school to high school. The author gives the reader insight on Melinda’s secrets, memories, and her opinions of those around her. As the novel progresses, you experience ‘coming of age’ moments with Melinda, in addition to discovering her biggest influential moment, the time she was raped. During the course of “Speak”, Melinda struggles internally as…

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Book report Essay

The novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, is about a girl who was raped at a party that was hosted by one of her friends. Melinda Sordino called the police for help. The police had intruded on a wild teen party, finding illegal alcohol at the scene. None of her friends knew that Melinda was raped, but instead was to blame her for having the party busted. The consequences for Melinda's innocent actions lead to her becoming an outcast. In the novel we learn how Melinda grieves over the rape and how…

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Melinda Sordino's Maturity In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

person’s life when one changes from being a youthful adolescent to a responsible young adult. These changes are not only physical or present in one’s appearance; one must change mentally as well in order to be considered truly grown-up. In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, fourteen-year-old Melinda Sordino experiences these changes throughout her life at Merryweather High. From the first day of school, Melinda is outcast because she called the police at a party over the summer. She does not…

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Essay on Rough Draft

year of high school. She starts off the year already being despised by her peers for ruining a party over the summer by calling the cops. What they didn’t know, was Melinda had somewhat no choice in the matter, for as you find out later in the book Speak, Melinda had been raped that night. Ashley Judd, a widely known actress who has starred in major films such as Simon Birch and Someone Like You. While she was a child, Judd faced the tragedy of being raped not once, but three times. “He opened his…

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Brief Summary And Character Analysis: Melinda

her alive ever since it happened. The setting in Syracuse, New York set the setting when it was cold from the 8 inches of snow that fell she still had to go to school unlike other places 1 inch equals no school. The style showed the suffering of Melinda’s voice from that point in high school. It also had flashbacks that had the story have reminders of recent events. Figurative language inscripted on how Melinda was acting and experiencing throughout her house and school places. Created the tension…

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Thesis For Andy Evans Speak

Conflicting pain on others is often times the way the villain archetype get power and grows their superiority. In Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Andy Evans is a devious highschool student who is motivated to get more power and to grow his dominance over others by bullying and abusing girls. In the beginning of the book, readers are introduced to Andy as a person who casually taunts and teases Melinda, but despite how casual and innocent the teasing was it caused extreme uncomfortable in Melinda…

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Laurie Halse Anderson Speak Summary

What words could conceptualize a perforation into a neoteric world? Speak, written by Laurie Halse Anderson, artistically utilizes common vernacular and and develops a visual feast for your mind. Words written without any direction or feeling is nothing more than simple scribbles are blank paper if the combined effect has no description or emotion behind them. Anderson uses descriptive imagery, underlying tension, and jargon: innovative words to create extravagant descriptions in the book. The book…

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