Hi. Please respond to one of the following prompts. Write at least a couple of paragraphs. Cite specific passages (with page numbers) from the book if appropriate. Read and respond to what others have written in your response. Your response should be posted before midnight Tuesday, 11/22. Be sure to include your first name and period. Thanks.
**I edited this to read Tuesday, 11/22. Originally it read Monday, 11/22. Sorry if there was confusion.
Prompts:
What scene (or scenes) in Speak did you visualize most clearly while reading?
Or
How did your opinion or feelings about Melinda change over the course of the book and why?
Or
What connections did you make (text to text, self, or world) while reading Speak?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
20 comments:
My feelings for Melinda changed a lot over the course of the book. Before I knew her story, I just thought she was very annoyingly depressed. Over time you begin to realize just what she is going through. She didn't decide to be the way she was, it was because of deep emotional trauma.
When I read that she had been raped, I felt bad that at first I had assumed she was complaining about nothing. I feel so bad for her she had this traumatic event, and not even her best friend was there for her.
I came to love Melinda's character. She is quiet but strong. When Andy Evans pins her in the closet, I realized I had grown mentally closer to her. I was rooting for her, and was so happy when she finally stood up for herself.
Elyse Jones, Period 3
At first, I thought Melinda was annoying. She was emotional and didn't know how to control herself when she was upset. I thought this girl was weird and hated life like an emo chick.
As you place yourself in Melinda's shoes however, you finally understand why she acts the way she does. She isn't depressed and an outcast because she wants to. People have shunned her from being a part of the school. I really start to understand why she doesn't care about doing anything anymore. She has been abused by someone that goes to her school and she has to live with that everyday.
Like Elyse said, I was also happy that Melinda had the guts to finally stick up for herself and she found her voice. She didn't sit by and let anyone kick her around like they used to. She has a right to act the way she does because she has been scarred, but when she does start to speak up, you know she is slowly healing inside. Sure enough, slowly people start talking to her again and she is taking baby steps on becoming her old self.
-Nikki Jamshidbaigi period 3
Jk i meant period 6.
My opinions about Melinda changed as I progressed through Speak and made discoveries about her life. In the beginning of Speak I saw Melinda as someone who would not speak out about anything because she thought that no one cared. She was very withdrawn and had a depressing outlook on life. She was really hard to understand and she seemed like someone that nobody could get along with.
As I got further into the book I realized that she was suffering. she was obviously afraid of Andy Evans who she referred to as IT. When I found out she had been raped I began to understand where she was coming from. She was afraid, and the rape was weighing on her. I still thought she should speak out though. She had chosen the worst possible solution. By remaining silent she left herself open to more harm. In my opinion she was still silent, and angry at those around her, but I realized because she was afraid and traumatized, not just pessimistic.
My opinion changed the most when she finally talked to Rachel. She told her about the rape and began to stand up for herself. She is confronted by her worst fear and stands up for herself when Andy attacks her. After she defends herself I finally see her as someone who will speak out and defend herself. She becomes much more likeable and friendly. She never stuck up for herself until she was confronted with another attack, but when she finally defends herself she becomes a more stable person.
I agree with most of what Elyse said about Melinda. She was annoyingly depressed and had been through deep trauma. But I feel that we can always choose who we are. She could have told others sooner about what had happened. and she didn't have to remain silent. I found it difficult to connect to her character because she was always silent. She wouldn't even stick up for herself, let alone others. This changes as soon as she speaks up. She realizes that others do care and she doesn't need to live in fear.
Melinda starts out as a silent and depressing character, but she learns to stick up for herself. She thought no one cared, but when Melinda spoke she learned that others do care, and that everyone should listen, and everyone can Speak.
What scene (or scenes) in Speak did you visualize most clearly while reading?
Laurie Halse Anderson does a very good job at describing scenes and feeling in the book Speak. She uses descriptive words and a lot of comparisons. One scene I visualized the most in this story so far, was when Melinda accidentally went into the abandoned janitor's closet.
"I haven't stumbled into a classroom; it is an old janitor's closet that smells like sour sponges." (pg.25) This excerpt, while small, prepares you for what the following passage will be about and gets you an idea what the rest of the closet will look like.
"A stained armchair and an old fashioned desk peek from behind a collection of mops and brooms. A cracked mirror tilts over a sink littered roaches crocheted together with cobwebs. The taps are so rusted they don't turn."(pg. 26) These phrases really help one picture what the closet really looks like with the dirty old chair and desk.
While roaches are disgusting, saying that they were crocheted together with cobwebs makes this ugly scene more realistic and adds more "texture" to what the narrator is trying to say.
The cracked mirror and old sink with rusted nobs really lets one understand how forgotten this closet is.
Melinda says, " this closet is abandoned- it has no purpose, no name. It is the perfect place for her." (pg.26) I think this closet reflects how Melinda thinks of herself- "forgotten," misunderstood, broken like the mirror, and "rusted" like the sink nobs.
Mikaela Schmiett, Per. 4
Sorry, I forgot which period
Joseph S. period 6
My feelings on the character Melinda have changed a lot over the period of the book. At first I kind of felt like she was doing the things she did because she was sad and really was hurting. Then I got the impression that she was just being stubborn. I felt like maybe she was a little bit of a drama queen and kind of liked the negative attention she was getting.
I just finished the third marking period and realized that all the things she was sad and depressed about were real. So now my feelings on her have really changed in that she can stand up for herself, but I also I think that deep down...she really wants help from her parents.
Claire C. Period 6
Early on in the book, I often found my self feeling annoyed, or frustrated with Melinda. Before I knew her story, I found it hard to sympathize with her. She was whiny, emotional, hard to relate to, and stubborn. Every time she talked about how she wanted to escape, swallow herself, get away from everyone and just hide, I grew more annoyed with her. I wished she would do something to help herself instead of just succumbing to misery. Try to make friends instead of counting of the list of people who hate her. Talk to her parents instead of herself. I would put myself in her position and think about what I would have done.
As the story progresses, however, I do start to feel for the character. I agree with previous posts that you have to learn about Melinda and what she has been through before you can sympathize for her. As she poured out the story of that night (pgs 133-136) I slowly found her more accessible and sensible. Everything made sense.
I Think Laurie Halse Anderson planned the character this way. It makes a bigger impact on you when you go from such strong feelings of dislike to feelings of pity and sympathy. Now when I read the story, I just remember her past and it gives everything she does a new meaning.
-Allison W. Period 6
In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, there is a passage about a Winter Assembly. The author writes this, from the view of the main character, Melinda. "Heather says the school board won't let them perform Christmas carols or Hanukkah songs or Kwanza tunes. Instead of multicultural, we have no-cultural."(page 69) This passage reminds me of the book Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This book is about a dystopian society where any books that are discovered are burned, along with those caught hiding them. The reason for this is similar to the passage in speak. As Ray Bradbury writes, "Colored people don't like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don't feel good about Uncle Tom's Cabin. Burn it. Someone's written a book about tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book. Serenity, Montag. Peace, Montag. Take your fight outside. Better yet, into the incinerator. Funerals are unhappy and pagan? Eliminate them too..."(Farenheit 451, pg. 59). This text to text connection shows the dangers of trying to please everybody and how it never works.
Caroline Holyoak, period 6.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is one of those books that you can't put down and when you do manage to put the book down you have to remember that you are not Melinda you are back to reality. There are so many passages that have really whispered in my ear, but one has done an especially good job of that. "Applesmell soaks the air. One time when I was little, my parents took me to an orchard. Daddy set me high in an apple tree. It was like falling up into a storybook, yummy and red and leaf and the branch not shaking a bit. Bees bumbled through the air, so stuffed with apple they couldn't be bothered to sting me. The sun warmed my hair, and a wind pushed my mother into my father's arms, and all the apple-picking parents and children smiled for a long, long minute." (page 66)
This passage is about the smells of biology class when the class is studying fruit. This passage put me into Melinda's mind and I felt myself thinking like Melinda and how glorious it must have felt to get undivided attention from her parents for once.
I could feel my lips heal as I am sure Melinda felt when she recalled this scene. I also felt myself transform into a child and for that paragraph I fel naturally happy and content. I now know why Melinda daydreams so often.
Thomas Ashton period 6
I completely agree with Allison when she says that she found herself, "Feeling annoyed, or frustrated with Melinda". For the first two marking periods or so I found myself lost in the world of Melinda. I felt like a was Melinda and that I was hopelessly lost. I found myself wishing I could do something, somehow, to make Melinda become active in her life and do things to make herself happy. Melinda begins to grow on you , however, and then you start to feel sorry for her. You no longer feel frustrated that she doesn't do anything to make herself happy.
Thomas Ashton period 6
At the begining of the book I felt bad for Melinda. She seemed to be a confused and unwanted girl in the big world of high school. As the book went on i didn't think she was terribly anoying, but i began to get anoied with her. When she continued to remain silent about her problams it made me want to get in the story with her and set her strait. Once i got to the part in the book that explained that she had family issues and she got raped i was more able to understand why it was hard for her to speak up and confront people after that.
In a way i agree with Elyse. when you think anout it Melinda is very strong. she continues to put up with people even though they hurt her every day. At that point most of up would break down and probably not talk to anyone. Melinda tried to have a relationship with Heather. Also there are alot of times when she could have snapped and been a really mean person but she was better then that.
Elizabeth G. period 3
As seen in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the protagonist, Melinda, has a very interesting quality of her personality that I haven't really seen before in a novel. At the beginning of the book (and up until the halfway point), Melinda was a very depressing and hateful protagonist. Usually, the protagonist is the "good guy" in the story, but in the rare case of Speak, I found Melinda a hateful character. She was almost the antagonist in her own story.
For the first two marking periods in the book, Melinda was very silent and closed in on herself. She even got in trouble for not speaking (113-116). Melinda also gets in trouble for low grades and for cutting her classes. So, of course, it seems as if Melinda is simply a lazy slacker who can't deal with the stresses of life.
Later, though, the reader realizes why Melinda is so hateful. She went through one of the most awful things that can happen to a person, let alone a little kid. With this knowledge, the reader is then able to realize why Melinda is so closed in on herself and why she is so depressed. This realization allows the reader to feel for Melinda and to think of her as a better person than the person she was in the first marking periods.
I agree with what Joe said about Melinda's problem completely. Like he said, I realize Melinda experienced horrors, but she didn't have a good excuse to be so mean and closed in for so long. Melinda could have let her hate out much earlier: she could have told people what happened, such as her parents. They would have been able to help her. Or Melinda could have told one of her friends. I'm sure if they knew what happened they would have forgiven Melinda for calling the police.
In conclusion, I believe Melinda changed significantly throughout the novel. She was depressed, but she finally found her voice and spoke up about what happened. She found she didn't have to hide herself anymore. She only needed to speak.
By Connor
Period 6
The best part about Speak is the visual imagery that the author, Laurie Anderson, paints in your mind. The scene I visualized most clearly was when arborist cut off the dead branches of the tree in Melinda’s yard. “One arborist monkeys his way into the pale green canopy, then hauls up the chain saw…He sets to work pruning the deadwood like a sculpture. ‘Brrrrrrr-rrroww.’ The chain saw gnaws through the oak, branches crashing to the ground. The air swirls with sawdust. Sap oozes from the open sores.” (pg. 187) The author’s descriptive wording made it very easy for me to picture this tree being cut down. I could see in my mind the branches crashing to the ground, and I could hear the rip of the chainsaw.
I also visualized something else when I read this passage. While the arborist was doing his job, a young boy asked Melinda’s Dad why a man was chopping down their tree. Melinda’s dad answered, “He’s not chopping it down. He’s saving it from disease…By cutting off the damage, you make it possible for the tree to grow again.” (pg. 187) When Melinda’s dad said this, I visioned Melinda cutting off her bad memories and leaving them behind. I pictured Melinda moving forward and growing in her new skin.
I also like Mikeala’s favorite visual image, when Melinda first discovered the old janitor’s closet. This scene was also very descriptive and portrayed Melinda as a hidden soul. This scene helped me picture the other side of Melinda: the side that was scared and lonely. However, I enjoy my visual image more because it shows the positive side of Melinda as she starts to uncover the real girl inside her.
Lindsay
Period 6
There are many scenes in "Speak" that Laurie Halse Enderson describes in detail and is able to paint a very vivid picture of what's going on and what the scene looks like. Two of these scenes for me both involved Mr. Freeman. The first one was when Melinda first got to art and is describing the art room. "The classroom is at the far end of the building and has long, south-facing windows. The sun doesn't shine much in Syracuse, so the art room is designed to get every bit of light it can. It is dusty in a clean-dirt kind of way. The floor is layered with splotches of paint, the walls plastered with sketches of tormented teanagers and fat puppies, the shelves crowded with clay pots. A radio plays my favorite station" (pg. 9-10)
The description Melinda gives could be any art room, but that last sentance about her favorite station playing seems to make the place positive, like she aproves of it so the reader should too. When Mr. Freeman gets off the pottery wheel and write on the board without washing his hands you also get a sense of a carefree vibe; the room and its teacher are a positive place for Melinda, where she will not be judged by what she's done but by what she will do.
The second scene I pictured very vividly was when Mr. Freeman offers Melinda a ride. "Mr. Freeman's car shocks me. It is a blue Volvo, a safe Swedish box. I had him figured for an old VW bus. It is clean. I had visions of art supplies, posters and rotting fruit everywhere. When I get in, classical music plays quietly. Will wonders never cease" (pg. 121) Her surprise at his car helps to paint an even clearer picture of what she sees. I could almost hear the car growing quiet as she shuts the door. Throughtout the ride there seems to be a sense of awkwardness between Melinda and Mr. Freeman. There are gaps in the conversation and she is very atentive to detail. At the end of the ride when he drops her off Mr. Freeman tells Melinda he'd like to hear what she has to say. Meilnda doesn't answer and closes the door. She seemed to also be saying that she didn't want to speak up, and that she didn't yet believe in herself so why should anyone else.
Erin M, Period 4
Jay Cawthon, period 6.
I visualized the teachers the best; adjectives about Hairwoman and Mr. Neck really made them stand out. I remember the rape scene most because it was the driving force of the whole book. It explained every quirk and tied up each loose end.
The novel Speak by Laurie Anderson very deeply explores the main character Melinda. One of the most vivid scenes that contributed to the feel of her character was in the art room. Melinda was working on her tree project, carving a linoleum block. While the words themselves are not particularly descriptive, a single sentence caught my attention. Melinda thinks, "Maybe I could carve off all the linoleum and call it 'Empty Block'". (page 153). Immediately I had a picture in my head of Melinda scraping all the linoleum away until there was nothing left. She continues to hopelessly lop of chunks of the “block” of her life. Rather than try to salvage what she has, she would rather let it be carved away.
This sort of relates to Mikaela’s idea of how Melinda found the empty closet that did not seem to have a purpose. It was forgotten and empty like her. Like the closet being stripped of its contents and forgotten about, her life had been made empty by the harsh world around her; her linoleum block was being scraped away. Melinda was on the road to becoming an “empty block” herself. But, Mr. Freeman reminds Melinda that she needs to “breathe life into it…nothing is perfect” (p. 153). By the end of the novel, Melinda has salvaged the “block” that is her life into an imperfect but beautiful tree.
I also like Lindsay’s idea of how her father cutting the branches from their dying tree is like Melinda cutting bad memories from herself. In the case of the linoleum block, it is almost like Melinda needs to scrape it all away before she can start over.
Paul O. Period 6
I, however do not agree with what Joe S said. Melinda was silent out of fear of what would happen if she spoke. Imagine yourself in her situation, she was only thirteen when she was assaulted. Her parents never where around to teach her life lessons, such as rape. She probably thought she was to blame. You can say that theoretically you would speak up, but in that situation would you really?
Post a Comment