“To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme.” These were historic words from author Herman Melville. The novel Speak contains the powerful theme of communicating to others even when it may be hard, making Speak a mighty book. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak, she describes the life of a freshman in highschool, Melinda Sordino, who has been raped the summer before the school year. She refused to tell her friends that she was raped at the party they were attending, so all of her friends saw her as a whistle blower. Toward the beginning of the novel, Melinda appears to have no real friends at her side. However, she slowly begins to open up to people such as her art teacher Mr. Freeman and her old friend Ivy, showing the power …show more content…
The effective use of figurative language in the novel helps readers picture an object setting, or character in their mind. As an example, the author states, “The leaves stick together like floppy pages in a decomposing book” (166). This simile paints a clear picture of the leaves in Melinda’s yard. The ability for a reader to clearly see what the author is depicting unequivocally shows that Speak is enjoyable and quality writing. In addition, the author effectively uses descriptive imagery in the novel. For example, in one passage the author states, “The turkey-bone sculpture gives off a faint rotting odor” (151). This is just one of the many examples of sensory detail which make the novel move enjoyable. The combination of figurative language and descriptive imagery in the novel makes it both able to be understood easily and enjoyable for …show more content…
The novel is divided into four marking periods which follow a high school schedule. In the first marking period of the novel, Melinda is very depressed and derogatory towards herself. She speaks to almost no one and has a negative outlook on life. She even states, “There is no point in looking for my ex-friends” (3). Melinda has no ambition to go and talk to her old friends, or explain her side of the story for what occurs the summer prior to the school year. Throughout the story, the author foreshadows and hints that something tragic happens to Melinda at a party she attends in the summer. It is eventually revealed that Melinda is raped and that is why she called the police to the scene, and in the eyes of her friends crashes the party. However, her friends have no idea that she is raped and just believe she felt scared and called the police. In the first marking period, Melinda begins to open up to a teacher named Mr. Freeman. Mr. Freeman is Melinda’s art teacher. He gives his students a project in which his students must create a work of art that has emotion. Melinda is assigned with constructing a tree that expressions a certain emotion. Through her art project she is able to express herself and begins to open up to people. “I take out a page of notebook paper and a pen and doodle a
Although she had been averse to the project given to her, she gradually began to like it. It was the only class she actually tried her best at, as an outlet to express herself, even if it was just the slightest bit. Over the next couple weeks, Melinda started to eat lunch with Heather and went on a couple trips to Heather’s home. The two formed an unhealthy friendship where Heather did about 90 percent of the talking, as she was much more social then Melinda. She wanted to be popular, however, which meant joining a one of the many cliques of high school.
In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, she is trying to say that friends and friendships change over time. The first change that we found out about in the book was the group the Plane Janes that Melinda was in and they were best friend but they split over the summer, which was a change in a big group of friends. A second change between friendships was Ivy and Melinda they were apart of the Plane Janes but were never close until the ending of the school year. They were in the same art class which made them become close, through their artwork, which was a good change of friendship.
After going through an intense experience, most people are going to be left in shock. In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, a girl entering her freshman year in high school named Melinda had called the police at a party she attended after being sexually assaulted by an older student. Throughout the novel Melinda had felt as if she had lost her ability to speak but ends up finding her way through written words to help her regain her ability to speak. After the party where Melinda was sexually assaulted she had felt she lost her ability to speak. She started to write less on the post-it notes written to her parents and started become more distant from everything around her, especially at school.
Have you ever needed somebody to help you achieve your desires? .In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character has a hard time speaking. Melinda stated the mood in the novel by saying “…me with an S maybe, S for silent, for stupid, for scared, S for silly, for shame”(Anderson 101).Throughout the school year Melinda relies on her attacker, friends, and a trusted teacher to speak up.
In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game,” the author, Richard Connell uses the wonders of figurative language to spice things up in many ways throughout the story. Almost every page had something lying within itself, hidden behind metaphors similes, personification, and the list goes on. Some examples of how Richard Connell uses figurative language were clearly displayed on page 62: “Didn’t you notice that the crew’s nerves were a bit jumpy today?” This page also began to reveal the main feeling/emotion of the story(eerie/suspicious) came to be-which was set off by the example I used above. In this scene, the author uses very descriptive words and/or adjectives in his choice(s) of figurative language when he writes, “There was no breeze.
Melinda kept quiet and told no one for reasons such as fear and humiliation. She faces this horrible experience utterly alone. To make matters worse, she is forced to face her attacker; Andy Evans everyday at high school. Melinda heads down a dangerous and destructive path.
Paul Virilio once stated, “Writing is not possible without images. Yet, images don’t have to be descriptive; they can be concepts.” Author’s use descriptive language to create a picture in the reader 's mind. In the stories Canyons by Gray Paulsen and “The Treasure of Lemon Brown” by Walter Dean Myers, the author uses figurative language to develop the mood of the characters and setting.
Melinda is isolated from everybody at school, this affected her ability to speak openly about her pain with the strong animosity held upon her. At a pep rally, Melinda is publicly humiliated about the party by a group of students sitting behind her. “‘You’re Melinda Sordino?’ I turn around. She blows a black bubble and sucks it back into her mouth.
Throughout the entire novel, the author’s use of literary devices is very clear. These literary devices, specifically similes and personification, help the reader get a better idea of the exact sounds and feelings which will allow them to know what it feels like to be there in that moment. “ I stood there, trying to think of a comeback, when suddenly, I heard a whooshing sound, like the sound you get when you open a vacuum-sealed can of peanuts. Then the brown water that had puddled up all over the field began to move. It began to run toward the back portables, like someone pulled the plug out of a giant bathtub.
In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda gives a really good example of character development throughout the story. Melinda just starts her freshman year at high school. Over the summer her and her friends went to a party and Melinda gets raped by a boy named Andy Evans and ends up calling the police, she didn't tell anyone why she called the police, causing her friends and everyone at the party to reject her. Melinda’s only friend is a new girl named heather. Melinda gets depressed and starts expressing her pain through stuff like biting her lips and her nails, and not talking.
Because of the situation Andy put Melinda in, she finds a new passion for art. Art is the only subject Melinda has consistently worked hard in all year. Not only does she show a love for the class but she also starts working on her art projects outside of school.
The book Speak is a book written by Laurie Halse Anderson, it is about a young girl named Melinda Sordino and is about a very serious and all too common issue: rape and depression. Rape is a serious problem, it can completely destroy a person, making them never the same again. Depression is always an uphill battle and is even worse when your friends turn their back on you and your family does not notice something is seriously wrong with you. Melinda was a young girl enjoying life until an older boy named Andy Evans took advantage of his size and raped her.
There are people in our lives who have helped us grow. In the summer before freshman year in high school Melinda Sordino was raped at a party. After calling the police she was left without friends or dignity. She isolates herself not knowing what to do. In Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda grows in many ways throughout the book.
The utilization of symbolism, diction and syntax all foreshadow the ending of the story and help the reader understand the meaning of
(1). He uses the rhetorical device of figurative language to give the reader a strong image of his feeling