Reflection on "Speak"

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Speak is a realistic look on the high school experience through the eyes of a girl that seems to have lost all of her friends and is being victimized by some of her peers. The novel deals with intense subjects such as rape and abuse in a very sensitive way that allows younger readers to learn about these subjects without being horrified. Laurie Halse Anderson recreated the realistic feeling that many adolescents go through by making it feel like everyone is out to cause harm Melinda. Even her parents seem to gloss over the fact that she is harming herself and could potentially be suicidal with her mother saying, "I don't have time for this". I enjoyed this book because it has the potential to show young readers that are potentially dealing with similar situations that they are not alone.

In the novel, you watch as Melinda's situation goes from bad to worse and to her, all of her classmates and teachers hate her. There are a few exceptions to this like Mr. Freeman and David Petrakis who try to help her. It isn't until Melinda decides to help herself that the story starts to turn around. I don't think that it's until the chapter where Melinda has to give her presentation on the Suffragettes that she begins to fight for herself. I feel that her main inspiration comes from David, "But don't expect to make a difference unless you speak up," (159) because during the school year Melinda begins to say fewer words to anyone. There are other events that contribute to Melinda realizing that she needs to help herself out of her depression like her cleaning up her yard and the entirety of art class. I think that this is important because as a teenager it can feel like everything is crashing down around you and sometimes you need something important to help you get through the tough times. I think Anderson captured the feeling of everything getting worse that many teenagers go through very well because at a young age, the little things can build up into something big and everything just gets worse.

I think this is a great story to teach students because it shows that subjects, like rape and sexual abuse, happen often and it helps educate them in an easier way. Books like Speak show the reader than these things can happen and there is help available. There is a lot of controversy around teaching teenagers about rape and that is exemplified when Melinda isn't even sure if she was raped.

I think this is an important book because it not only shatters a lot of the common misconceptions about the high school experience that is shown in media. It shows that not everyone has a good time at pep rallies and not everyone had friends in high school. It shows that teachers can bully students just as much as their peers can. It shows the power of speaking up about your own situation and I think that's important to tell teenagers that they're not alone. 

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