Speak through Silence

Speak is a touching and telling novel that reaches many different audiences. Laurie Halse Anderson, the author, does a great job of incorporating relevant and relatable topics such as friendship, school and family. Overall, Speak is an impressive story about “finding your voice” and struggling with self-expression.

            Throughout the novel, Anderson gives us a lot of imagery that supports the theme of silence. We see Melinda struggle with voicing her opinions and even physically holding herself back from not replying to rejection. In the beginning of the story, we are introduced to Melinda’s ex-best friend, Rachel. The former friends come into contact on the first day of school and Rachel mouths “I hate you” (5) to Melinda and makes a joke out of it with her new friends. Instead of responding, Melinda bites her lip and it “bleeds a little” (5). This is the first time we see the imagery in Melinda’s struggle with speaking up. Further into the novel, Melinda even makes a joke out of her silence saying, “Good thing my lips are stitched together or I’d throw up” (46). This is an issue that many teens Melinda’s age deals with and struggle to reconcile with. The language was very adolescent and worked perfectly with the plot. It made it a lot easier for the reader to visualize the character and relate to the character development. Using words and language like “creepy” (145) and phrases like “that stinks” gives an adolescent tone to the novel. This novel is geared towards high school students who are more likely to understand and relate to the language and events.

Further into the story, we begin to see Melinda start to branch out and speak out more. At the end of the altercation that she and Andy had an altercation in the janitor’s closet, Melinda is finally beginning to find her voice and standing up for herself. She forcefully says to Andy, “I said no” (195), and her voice is finally heard. This scene also shows irony with the poster of Maya Angelou. Because Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings ties in so perfectly with this scene, Anderson crafted this scene in light of rape. This specific action is very a symbolic one because this poster literally gave her the strength and opportunity to fight back against her rapist. At the end of the novel, we see that Melinda has come to terms with everything that she has had to struggle and deal with and says,

“The tears dissolve the last block of ice in my throat. I feel the frozen stillness melt down through the inside of me, dripping shards of ice that vanish in a puddle of sunlight on the stained floor. Words float up” (298).

This quote highlights her strength and ability to speak up not only for her but for the other silent victims of Andy’s attacks. We see this story come full circle and how Melinda is finally feeling comfortable sharing her experiences. This makes the story even more relatable because she is choosing to speak up to her favorite teacher, Mr. Freeman who has been there for her from the beginning. Not only is this a common occurrence with teens today, but this gives hope for others to speak to an adult, be it a teacher or parent, and begin dealing with their traumatic experiences.