Brave Orchid: The Thematic Power Of Silence

title In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda, an incoming freshman at Merryweather High School in Syracuse, New York, went to an upperclassman party during the summer and tragically was raped by Andy Evans, a senior jock. Melinda immediately called the cops after the assault, and all the people at the party since then on, have hated her for ruining the party, but they do not know why Melinda had really called the cops. Since this incident, Melinda has had difficulty expressing herself and talking about her ordeal. The story consists of the continuous motif of speaking/not speaking, to illustrate how in order for rape victims to get help they have to reach out and speak to someone.

But, it is the beginning of a new challenge for herself. The weekend before she is supposed to give her speech, she has no idea what to write. She wanted to be able to express herself and give a voice to her freedom. Finally she has an idea late the night before, “I started to write, recklessly, three, five pages, looking up once only to see my father passing by the hall on tiptoe. When I was done, I read over my words, and my eyes filled.

"The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford is a captivating coming-of-age story that follows the life of Henry Lee, a Chinese-American boy growing up in Seattle during World War II. Throughout the novel, Henry experiences profound personal growth and self-discovery as he navigates the complexities of racial tensions, family expectations, and first love. This essay will explore how four quotes from the book exemplify the transformative journey of Henry's coming of age. Paragraph 1: In the early stages of the novel, a young Henry grapples with his dual identity as an American-born Chinese.

In the book, “The Secret Life of the Bees” Lily Owens suffers the guilt from the loss of her mother. Growing up was difficult for lily as she struggled with the abuse of her father and being socially awkward at school. Lily finds influential characters throughout her childhood years. Rosaleen her housekeeper is known in lily's life as her stand-in mother after lily's mother's death. Lily is often dreaming of being Rosaleen adoptive child.

Jaidyn McClain Baranek English Honors February 22, 2023 “Speak” Mouth Motif “It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it.” (Anderson 9) says Melinda. “Speak” a realistic fiction novel by Laurie Halse Anderson is about 14-year-old freshman Melinda Sordino, who had a traumatizing experience over the summer and is struggling to express herself.

In school again was the second time she faced an obstacle that stems from her race. This was known as opposition. It seems that educational facilities are the brunt of her problems. “At Pan American University, I and all Chicano students were required to take two speech classes. Their purpose: to get rid of our accents”.

Sophia Bennett heard it all her life. Smart, sweet, and shy, she hesitated to voice her ideas and opinions in fear of hearing that dreaded word, “Don’t be stupid, Sophia.” She became introverted, quiet. Talking to people became a struggle she fought to control.

Jin is faced with being one of the very few Asians at his Junior High School, while everyone else is American. Of course Jin is going to feel out of sorts, especially when his teacher introduces him to the class as “Jin Jang”, and saying “He and his family moved to our neighborhood all the way from China”, when Jin’s real name is Jin Wang and his family moved from San Francisco (30). Gene Luen Yang uses this humility to display that it takes a considerable amount of open

The novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is about a girl named Melinda, who shows signs of depression throughout the story. She has no friends and is hated by people she doesn’t even know. This is because she called the cops at a party, where she was raped. Anderson includes literary elements to show how Melinda is depressed. Throughout the novel, she uses many different literary elements to show Melinda’s conflict.

In this Quote the author explains how she feels about the story she

In these novels it is clearly seen that this form of writing is important in retaining and embracing a person’s and or a group’s cultural Identity. This paper is going to focus on the importance of talk-story. Maxine Hong Kingston uses talk-story to tell the stories of her childhood in The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. In using this form Kingston learns how to retain the customs of The Old China ways that her parents, especially her mother tells her and her siblings about. Kingston having been born in

Melody’s strongest quality is her intelligence despite her condition. Since she can't talk in class she might as well listen. Melody has photographic memory, so she has all of these thoughts and facts inside her head that she can’t get rid of. If I was melody I would feel deprived that I can't communicate with others about how I feel and tell them anything I want whenever. An example would be if we were asked a question we would answer it then it would float away from our heads afterwards, but for melody she still has it trapped in her head.

Throughout the entire novel, the mothers and daughters face inner struggles, family conflict, and societal collision. The divergence of cultures produces tension and miscommunication, which effectively causes the collision of American morals, beliefs, and priorities with Chinese culture which

The story of Ewald begins with his concerns on why some diseases are contagious while others ignore, leading to his visitation at the school of hygiene. He needed to understand the relationship existing between an host and parasites cause in his mind there shouldn’t be any kind of connection. His argument was based on the drastical effect it causes due to the fact that it immobilizes its patient, and if not taking care of will leads to a rapid spread making the surrounding contagious comparing viruses that have a human host not been succeeding in transmitting diseases from host to another host than insect like mosquitoes which transport the virus malaria through biting since it immobilized the human contract, leading to a drastic break down and his reason has to do with the rapid transmission and effects of malaria, and yellow fever was still transported actively by this insect through bites than cold. This led to his understanding of the massive deadly that had occurred in the previous year because the bacteria cause diarrhea isn’t culpable enough as mosquitoes in being productive with the transmission process.

The narration beautifully illustrates the struggles of being pushed into a foreign world, where people look different, have other traditions, other norms, and speak an entirely different language. Based on her own childhood experiences as a migrant from Hong Kong, Jean Kwok tells the story of young and exceptionally intelligent Kimberly Chang who finds herself doing the splits between a life in Chinatown, wasting away as a sweatshop worker and living in a run-down apartment, and striving for a successful career at a fancy private school. Kimberly translates herself back and forth between a world where she can barely afford clothes and a world where, in spite of her intelligence, she 's supposed to look the part as she reaches for higher education. It is a tale of survival and beating the odds, but ultimately, it is also a fragile love story in an unforgiving environment. The narration is raw, honest, and authentic, with the Chinese culture being cleverly woven into the storyline.