Examples Of Character Development In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

No running away, or flying, or burying, or hiding. ” It is without a doubt that this is a dynamic character because it clearly identifies Melinda’s development. Rather than being a static character, she is able to overcome her anxiety, PTSD, and fear in order to accept the truth of what happened to her. Throughout the story, she is presented as an extremely silent person.

I can’t believe you did that.” (28) Melinda cannot talk about the rational reason she called the police.

Also, the closet her “safe place” she always used to hide what happened at the party from everyone else becomes a dangerous place. “It”, also known as Andy Evans the boy who rapes her at the party breaks into the closet and tries to sexually assault her again. Melinda realizes she can't let this happen again and therefore fights back with everything she has. She realizes that her closet is not safe anymore and that she can't hide from her trauma. And that she can't hide from this problem, and she needs to stand up and speak to the problem.

The characters Melinda, Rachel, and her peers all develop the theme that people can learn to grow and change. In the book Speak Melinda develops the theme that people can learn to grow and change because at the beginning of the book she isolates herself by hiding in the janitor's closet, doesn't talk to anyone, and has no friends at school so far. She also blames herself

Melinda didn’t say to anyone that she was raped She was dying inside of herself by keeping it. After the raped incident, she was broke down. Since, it had a horrible influence on her social life, school grades and personality. The raped incident caused her depression, because it did hurt her emotionally and mentally.

In the book Speak , melinda is a social outcast due to what happened in the summer. She tends to stay quiet and not speak when confronted. She hasn't been able to speak or be confident due to what happened at the summer party. She doesn’t like herself as much and throughout the book she keeps saying an alien is in her body and she wants to create distance. Melinda was raped by a senior named Andy and towards the end of the book she has the confidence to finally speak out and confront everybody.

However, this would not be existential without her initial release of confidence being her expression through writing. In which, confessing her past through writing needs to remain because it is the primary gateway that sets up the rest of the story. In the film, however, Melinda did not write anything. This is a mistake because writing was the ‘baby step’ that she needed to take in order for her opinion to spread and fully be exposed. Without this action occuring the plot has gaps which does not ease for a smoother story.

“Speak”, is the voice of every teenager who has ever encountered bullying, suffering, loneliness, and abandonment. I felt like I knew Melinda personally after learning about her character, I felt understanding and empathy towards her. Something I was really gripped by was Melinda’s decision making process, which made me understand her feelings and reactions towards others. It seems that Melinda had 2 personalities; a careful always alert, depressed goody two shoes, and someone who just wants to have fun, take risks, and be rebellious. Whenever Melinda wanted to make a decision, she picked the cautious side of her; for example, when her friend Heather had asked to paint each other’s nails, Melinda said “no”, even though her 2nd personality tried to convince her to do so, which in my opinion was caused by the “incident”.

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

All of her friends turned their back on Melinda, made fun of her, made her life a living hell. Her parent did not notice that her friends had turned their back on her until late into the school year and it is almost over. Her parents did not do their job in taking care of their baby girl because they were tired from work and did not have a healthy relationship themself. Melinda got stuck in a cycle because of what Andy did to her. She was battling depression basically alone, she had one girl who talked to her out of everybody in her school willingly Heather.

The impact the depression had on Melinda affected her a lot. She had lost all of her friends because of the party over the

Once she finally spoke up, her life started to get a lot better because she was finally able to begin the healing process. Melinda didn’t get through all of the stuff that had happened to her during that year by herself, including the summer and during school. She was able to begin healing because

Melinda, in a lot of ways, starts out like that it the book. She becomes a shell of herself from before the party happened and because no one else was there, she is lonely and doesn't have anybody to go to and to make matters even worse, she’s covered by the reputation that she has formed. In the book, Laurie Halse Anderson uses symbolism to convey exactly what Melinda can't say. In the beginning of the book, Melinda starts high school carrying her emotional wounds with her after something happens mysterious to her at a party during the summer.

• Melinda 's silence is triggered by different causes. The tragic event of the summer scars her deeply. By being raped she feels something has been taken away from her, as would any rape victim. The silence helps her avoid the memories that will always haunt her. I believe she is afraid of people’s perceptions of the truth.

I connected the rape scene with the scene in which the narrator was taking the fat mans order. And discovered how closely it relates to each other. In both scenes, the characters are both struggling to have control over their actions, and we see this when the man apologizes for ordering too much food. The scene where the narrator is getting forced into sexual intercourse, she says “ I turn on my back and relax some, though it is against my will,” her action in this scene proves how she has no control of the situation that she is in.