Stigma And Stigma In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

The novel “Speak”, written by Laurie Halse Anderson first published in the year 1999, deals with Melinda, an “outcast” (p. 4), who experiences her first year of high school while simultaneously trying to cope with the aftermath of sexual abuse during a party, which consists mainly of her not being able to speak. Since we are all aware of the fact that Melinda’s traumatic event led to a certain degree of dehumanization for her, the following words intend to focus on and elaborate Melinda’s struggle in school; how she views her teachers, her marks, her periods and to some degree also her peers and classmates. Starting right at the beginning Melinda enters her high school life with a healthy amount of prejudice. Probably having heard or

Throughout this novel, these stigmas and stereotypes are broken through the

When analyzing salvaging the self by Snow and Anderson, out of the three stigmas I associate myself with the Tribal stigma of race. When it comes to race the social norms of society are based on European characteristics as the standard or default in society. Sadly in our society individuals are mistreated based on their skin color or ethnic groups. If European characteristics are found to conflict with other races it is deemed a stigma by society unfortunately. As an African-American male I am stigmatized by Society.

The different emotions and mental health problems shown throughout books help us understand the story a little better and bring out the tone and mood more. The play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare tells us about two families who are supposed to be enemies, but then Romeo and Juliet the family children fall in love. Since their families are in a century-long feud their love will never work out and they both end up dying trying to be together. The novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a story about Melinda, a teenage girl, who just started high school in a way she hadn't expected. She had a normal life the year before until she got raped at a party and told no one about it so her life flipped around.

"If it is directed toward people with particular physical characteristics such as skin color, eye shape, or hair texture it is referred to as racism." (Naiman 242). Stigma is the belief or thought that all homeless people got into poverty themselves, due to addiction or crime. "Few of us see structural relations as the causes of poverty. Instead we focus on certain inherent characteristics of those who are poor supposed laziness, lack of education, lack of ambition...

Stigma of Charracter traits is seen as a “blemish” of one character, perceived as “weak will” or “dishonesty”, in short the “normal” looking down on the stigmatized. A example of this is a mental disorder, imprisonment, addiction, alcoholism, homosexuality, unemployment, suicidal attempts, and radical political behavior. A physical stigma described as someone with physical deformites of ones body, as stigma of group identity is a stigma that comes from be a part of a of group for example, race, nation, religion. Goffman goes on to speak about the responses of the stigmatized, the isolation and depression the stimatized feel when going out in public and methods they use to avoid be found. A example can be someone with a physical stigma getting plastic surgery, or the speical efforts made to avoid the stigma like drawing attention to a impressive skill.

Imagine a single working mother having to explain to her daughter why she can not take her to the father-daughter dance because of the possible judgements she might encounter. Over the years, different groups of people are labeled by society with different characteristics that are sometimes extremely absurd. This is usually a result from exaggerated facts that were once true or that were taken from a creative scene of a movie. Either way, these stereotypes have spread among individuals and often used to represent groups of people without actually understanding the reality. Unfortunately, these stereotypes can lead to misconceptions and cause even more negative suppositions about others.

For instance, in the beginning of the movie, Judy’s parents, made sure that Judy was aware of the nature of predators, especially foxes, so they gave her fox spray. Even though Judy tried to explain that not all foxes are jerks, her parents still held that stigma against them. Stigmas can be harmful towards individuals and groups as they can significantly impact the emotional, physiological, and mental health of stigmatized groups. After the kids put a muzzle on Nick and embarrassed him, he ran out and cried. Even though he tried to

Analyzing stereotypes allows one to come to terms with the idea that stereotypes come from the same source, marginalized groups. Social disadvantages are real and need to be approached in a supportive way, instead these groups are conventionalized

SH 4008 - Reflective Essay Olagoke I. Ajani (21026457) Date: 24th April 2023 Stigma, labelling, and stereotyping Introduction Stigma, labelling, and stereotyping are pervasive and persistent issues that have a significant impact on the lives of individuals, particularly those from black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) communities. Goffman (1963) describes stigma as the difference between the virtual social identity and the real social identity. As a black African living in the UK, I have personally experienced discrimi- nation and stereotyping, so the topic is of great interest to me. Obvious instances of this form of dis- crimination includes government policies like: Hostile Environment Policy - This policy, which was im- plemented in

According to the American Psychiatric Association, "self-stigma leads to… reduced hope, lower self-esteem, increased psychiatric symptoms, difficulties with social relationships, reduced likelihood of staying with treatment, [and] more difficulties at work" (Borenstein, 2020). Overall, discrimination and stigma can cause adverse effects in the lives of those with mental disorders, whether by worsening symptoms or reducing their quality of

This has brought acts of hatred and views of disapproval to the certain group or individual. Due to this stigma, the everyday life of all people starts living in fear, especially the

In J. Brooks Bouson ‘The Devastation That Even Casual Racial Contempt Can Cause’: Chronic Shame, Traumatic Abuse, and Racial Self-Loathing in The Bluest Eye, the Major Topic is internalization of racial stigmatizing. Racial stigmatizing is when an individual or race describes another with criticism and identifies them with disapproval which causes them to embody and identify themselves with these stigmas. Bouson asserts, “Because individuals incorporate into their self-representation aspects of their understanding of their group identity, those who are labeled as other or different internalize the stigmatizing stereotypes projected by the dominant culture.” This quotation is saying that people represent themselves with aspects of their race

The terms prejudice and stereotypes are often being mixed up with, due to them having the similar characteristic of preconceived ideas towards a target group, however, they are thoroughly different concepts. Brinkerhoff et al defined prejudice as having biased thoughts towards a targeted group of people, racism and discrimination are forms of prejudice(192). Stereotypes, on the other hand, may or may include negative attitude towards the targeted group. Despite them being as quite different concepts, there are casual connections between the two, since prejudice is actually the negative outcome of stereotypes(192). The cause of prejudice can scholars into four categories: cultural transmission, group identification theory, personality theories and frustration-aggression hypothesis(class notes).

Have you ever been slated unjustly into a group that you don’t represent? Have you ever been stereotyped due to this? Well this is all due to the dangers of looking at a single story, judging someone by their appearance and background rather than getting multiple perspectives of a person’s life and judging them that way. Sadly, in today’s world the single story is an ever-prevalent trap that is so easy to become caught in. Though in life there is an unending supply of examples to contradict the single-story trap.