Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

The theme of this book, is that if there is a situation where you can say or do something to help, do it, because that is farm foreign than the pain that a bully can bring us. Not only can

“Let me tell you the secret that has lead me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.” -Louis Pasteur. Forge, written by Laurie Halse Anderson, is about Curzon, a boy that turns into a young man as he faces the hardships of Valley Forge in the winter.

She is reminded of the violence that torn not only communities apart but families as well. How the social norms of the day restricted people’s lives and held them in the balance of life and death. Her grandfathers past life, her grandmother cultural silence about the internment and husband’s affair, the police brutality that cause the death of 4 young black teenagers. Even her own inner conflicts with her sexuality and Japanese heritage. She starts to see the world around her with a different

Children in the age range thirteen to fifteen are often transitioning through a critical time of their lives. They frequently look to others as a cicerone on how they themselves should act. In the novel, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda Sordino calls the cops on an end-of-summer party at which she was raped. The novel depicts Melinda’s excursion as to how she copes with the heart-wrenching events that have affected her momentously as well as creating “[a] frightening and sobering look at the cruelty and viciousness that pervade much of contemporary high school life.” (Kirkus Reviews, Pointer Review).

The novel follows Stevie an eleven year old girl who lives in Southside Chicago throughout her middle and high school years. Stevie goes through the social pressure of her peers and family to tell her how to act, think, and look. Slowly throughout

“Speak up, because the day you don’t speak up for the things that matter to you is the day your freedom truly ends”. Speak up when you have the change because if you don’t you will end up like me . I lied to my mom about doing something. I know, everybody as lied to their parents. But she’s a mom

Melinda appears to be a snitch, but in reality she is just afraid, broken, and scared to tell everyone what really happened. “I just want to sleep. A coma would be nice. Or amnesia. Anything, just to get rid of this, these thoughts, whispers in my mind.

If people give up all the time individuals will never get far in life or become successful, but if people try their best until people get better or at least try, people are less likely to fail. To begin, in the realistic fiction novel, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, there is a kid named Brian Robeson whose parents are divorced. So he gets on a plane to go see his dad, but usually stays mainly with his mom. When he goes on the plane for the first time since the divorce his plane crashes in the middle of a forest. Brian has to learn how to survive in the wilderness and hope he gets saved.

At the end of the story she finally found her voice and was able to stand up for herself. In the beginning, Melinda didn't talk to anyone, barely even to her parents. She says, “I have tried so hard to forget every second of that stupid party and here I am in the middle of a hostile crowd that hates me for what I had to do. I can't tell them what really happened” (Anderson, 28).

After Melinda admits to herself that she was raped, Melinda starts to realize that

She explains how happy, but conflicted because her parents refuse money from her and live as homeless people. She writes the memoir to work through her feelings and share’s her story. Some topics that I could identify in the text are: poverty, teenage pregnancy and child rights. The issue of poverty is portrayed from the beginning of the book to the end.

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.

Kidd uses the characterization of Lily, T. Ray, May, and Deborah to demonstrate the theme that people’s lives are more complex than they appear. By using these characters, Kidd demonstrates how judgements are made about people based on their actions. People don’t always think about how a person really feels on the inside and they do not know about everything that goes on in their head. This is a theme that is significant to the world at any time period because everyone can relate to it. Therefore, the theme of this story is significant in people’s lives

Isolation is when one is set apart from others and is virtually alone. In Laurie Anderson’s Speak, the protagonist, Melinda, isolates herself and is further isolated from others. Isolation can be seen through three symbols: lips, mirrors and a closet. Melinda thinks no one cares about what she has to say, resulting in silence. After the incident in the summer, Melinda cannot bare to look at herself.

On their way, they stop at a place to get food. Where the grandmother has the chance to talk to men about the man that had escaped jail and the chat about how it was hard to find good people in the time they were living. This story concludes with the family being shot by the murderer which they found on their way while they changed their route. How does the author use the characters in this story to develop a theme?