Speak

Making life harder for you each and every day, kids are calling you rude and nasty names. The fact that some of them used to be your friends, makes it even worse. In the book, Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, this exact incident happens to a girl named Melinda Sardino. Thinking of this makes me want to curl up into a little ball and not talk to anyone. Does Melinda have a good reason for acting the way she is or is she just exaggerating?

Melinda has many grand reasons for not wanting to talk to anyone and acting the way she does. First of all, she got assaulted during the summer time at a party. And the worst part of that is that none of her friends know about it. And if she were to tell them, she’s afraid that they won’t believe her. Therefore, in a way, she does have a reason for isolating herself like that. I know that people that have gotten assaulted, in the way that she did, don’t want to socialize, share any of their feeling, or want to do any activities. They just want to sit at home doing absolutely nothing but think about what has happened to them. Deep inside of them, they want to tell someone; scream it all out at once. Just like in the end of the book, Melinda screams out,”Nooooooooo!” Meaning that she wants to let it all out, she is now cured. All she has to do now is keep talking about it until it is just a horrible little incident that is left in her past.

Melinda has many good reasons why she should act the way she is. On the other hand, there are also many causes why she shouldn’t. First of all, many people have gone through the same incident. But, most of them don’t make it the principal portion of their life. They learn to move on. Yet, Melinda is stuck on a part of her past that she could be using to get better. She could do so by talking to people and expressing herself and how she feels. That would be a major part of her recovery. Since she sits there all day long, there is no way she would get better. She decides that keeping it all bottled in like a soda bottle filled with baking soda and vinegar is the best choice and that it will make it all go away. The truth is, it’s not something that is easily going away. She needs help but she doesn’t want to believe it. In this situation, she shouldn’t be acting the way she is at all. I say this because, in a way, she is putting all of this on herself.

Talking to people would make it much better for Melinda. But, I think about it and wonder: what if it were me in her situation? I would not want to tell anyone about it because I would feel ashamed and embarrassed. But then again, I would know that keeping it to myself was going to make matters worse! If you really consider it, it would be hard either way. The whole situation was in her hands the whole time. She just had to make the decision. Thinking of it now, she does and doesn’t have a reason to be acting the way she is.