Friday, December 18, 2009
Speak
Imagine this, it’s your first day of high school, and you have no friends, and you’re the schools laughing stock. That would be a very bad thing, especially if you are going from having a lot of friends and being a very popular person. Even worse, you end up having no friends and being the schools laughing stock for something you didn’t even do. And even after it being something she didn’t do she still feels really guilty and she blames herself for it when really it wasn’t her fault at all. This is what happens to Melinda, in the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Melinda is just a depressed girl who gets made fun of and laughed at all because she got sexually assaulted by some freak named Andy.
For most people, the most important part of just about all books is knowing all the characters. The main character is Melinda Sordino. She is a sophomore girl who goes through her freshman year feeling really guilty and bad about herself all because she got raped. Another important character is Andy Evans. He is the guy who raped Melinda and gets away with it and never has one word said to him about it. Then there is Mr. Freeman, he is the art teacher. Art is Melinda’s favorite subject and also is the only subject she is good at starting off the book, but in the end she gets better at school and improves her grades. But talking more about Melinda, she is just an average girl who growing up had plenty of friends, and was very popular. She was at a party with illegal alcohol, and that is also where she got raped. She ended up calling the cops, but all of her friends and students from the school think she only called the cops because of the illegal alcohol. Nobody knew about what actually happened to her that night besides her, and the idiot Andy Evans. What he did was wrong, and either worse he got away with it without even a slap on the wrist.
Has it ever happened to you that you are so popular at one point, you have so many friends, and it seems like everyone loves you, but then one thing happens and it seems like they all turned on you? Well that’s what happens to Melinda in the book, but she didn’t even do anything. If she would have came out and told the cops that she got assaulted then she would have probably lived a totally different life. Andy would have gotten in trouble, but people might have given her so much more crap, and people would call her names. So, either way she would get crap from people. She probably would have been better telling the cops though because that way Andy would have got caught and would have got in trouble.
After getting raped, and getting made fun of and getting crap from people like Melinda did in the book she starts going through depression. One thing that also didn’t help is she doesn’t have much of a family or any great friends. So, she doesn’t really have anyone to talk to about her problems. It is always good to let your problems out because you feel like there is someone there that cares and is there to help you. It also helps, because it feels good to get it off your chest. Since Melinda has no one she can’t tell anyone about what happened so she feels so bad, and so guilty inside when really she did nothing. It is always good to have someone you can trust and someone you can tell anything and everything to. That’s what Melinda’s problem is, because she doesn’t have someone she can talk to like that.
In the end, people find out that Melinda really did get raped, and everyone starts liking her again. Which means she has friends again, so now she can carry on with her normal life. So, she doesn’t need to think about her terrible past. Since she is so young, she doesn’t need to be thinking about her terrible past. She should only think about the good things, and what she has ahead of her in the future. The point of this book, in my opinion is to teach people not to think about bad things that have happened to themselves, because there is someone in the world that has had worse. So, you can feel bad for yourself but then you should think about other people to. Also, you should think about the future you have ahead of you, because you cannot get to the future if you don’t let go of the past.
For most people, the most important part of just about all books is knowing all the characters. The main character is Melinda Sordino. She is a sophomore girl who goes through her freshman year feeling really guilty and bad about herself all because she got raped. Another important character is Andy Evans. He is the guy who raped Melinda and gets away with it and never has one word said to him about it. Then there is Mr. Freeman, he is the art teacher. Art is Melinda’s favorite subject and also is the only subject she is good at starting off the book, but in the end she gets better at school and improves her grades. But talking more about Melinda, she is just an average girl who growing up had plenty of friends, and was very popular. She was at a party with illegal alcohol, and that is also where she got raped. She ended up calling the cops, but all of her friends and students from the school think she only called the cops because of the illegal alcohol. Nobody knew about what actually happened to her that night besides her, and the idiot Andy Evans. What he did was wrong, and either worse he got away with it without even a slap on the wrist.
Has it ever happened to you that you are so popular at one point, you have so many friends, and it seems like everyone loves you, but then one thing happens and it seems like they all turned on you? Well that’s what happens to Melinda in the book, but she didn’t even do anything. If she would have came out and told the cops that she got assaulted then she would have probably lived a totally different life. Andy would have gotten in trouble, but people might have given her so much more crap, and people would call her names. So, either way she would get crap from people. She probably would have been better telling the cops though because that way Andy would have got caught and would have got in trouble.
After getting raped, and getting made fun of and getting crap from people like Melinda did in the book she starts going through depression. One thing that also didn’t help is she doesn’t have much of a family or any great friends. So, she doesn’t really have anyone to talk to about her problems. It is always good to let your problems out because you feel like there is someone there that cares and is there to help you. It also helps, because it feels good to get it off your chest. Since Melinda has no one she can’t tell anyone about what happened so she feels so bad, and so guilty inside when really she did nothing. It is always good to have someone you can trust and someone you can tell anything and everything to. That’s what Melinda’s problem is, because she doesn’t have someone she can talk to like that.
In the end, people find out that Melinda really did get raped, and everyone starts liking her again. Which means she has friends again, so now she can carry on with her normal life. So, she doesn’t need to think about her terrible past. Since she is so young, she doesn’t need to be thinking about her terrible past. She should only think about the good things, and what she has ahead of her in the future. The point of this book, in my opinion is to teach people not to think about bad things that have happened to themselves, because there is someone in the world that has had worse. So, you can feel bad for yourself but then you should think about other people to. Also, you should think about the future you have ahead of you, because you cannot get to the future if you don’t let go of the past.
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