LSSL 5385: Book 2

September 24, 2019

Speak

By Laurie Halse Anderson

Anderson, L. H. (1999). Speak. NY: Farrar Straus Giroux.

The summer before Melinda starts high school she attends a party with her best friend Rachel. When they arrive at the party, they get split up when Rachel leaves to dance with some friends and while they’re separate Melinda has a few drinks. After a while a senior, Andy Evans, starts dancing with her, they start dancing, and he ends up leading her to a secluded area. Andy rapes Melinda. While in a state of shock Melinda grabs the phone to dial 911 for help but when an operator gets on the line she is unable to speak. Someone grabs the phone from Melinda, listens and alerts the crowd that the cops are on the way. Melinda takes off, walks home to an empty house, and doesn’t utter a word about happened.

When school starts, Melinda is viewed as an outcast and social pariah since she called the cops. No one speaks to her since they all think she is a snitch. Melinda falls into a depression and hardly ever speaks to others. Heather, a new student to school, befriends Melinda at the beginning of the year but eventually feels the pressure of her peers when the group she wants to be a part of, the Marthas, aren’t accepting of her friendship with Melinda. Melinda begins to skip school, and as a result is failing many of her classes. The only class she enjoys and feels comfortable in is in her art class. At the beginning of the year, students draw a word from a globe and their assignment is to turn it into a piece of art. Melinda draws the word tree and throughout the year through different mediums and ideas she tries to bring the tree to life. Her teacher encourages Melinda to use her art to speak, and is one of the few people she can talk to during this difficult year.

As time passes, Melinda discovers that her ex-best friend, Rachel, is now dating Andy Evans. Throughout the book when she encounters Andy she refers to him as “it” and tries to avoid him at all costs. One day in the bathroom, when Melinda is talking to Ivy she has the courage to write on the bathroom stall a new subject thread, Guys to Stay Away From and the first entry is Andy Evans. Later on, Ivy asks Melinda to take the late bus one day so that she can show her something. Several other girls have added to her thread, Melinda sees that she’s not alone and feels as if she can fly. Even though they are no longer friends, Melinda is worried about Rachel and doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her. She writes Rachel a letter, sharing what happened to her at the party during the summer, and when she runs into Rachel at the library she brings it up with her then too. Rachel doesn’t believe her, and ends up still going to the prom with Andy. At the prom though, Andy tries to dance inappropriately with her and Rachel breaks up with him.

School is almost to an end, and Melinda goes back to clean out her closet. While she’s in there, Andy arrive and attacks her. This time though Melinda has the courage to speak and yells out for help. The lacrosse team hears her, rushes to her aid, and goes to find help. After the incident in the closet, Melinda is no longer treated as an outcast, and her peers are able to see how they had misjudged her. At the end of the story, Melinda is finally able to bring her tree to life, it’s a reflection of her struggles and how she found her voice. When she turns in her assignment she confides in her teacher and tells her story.

Anderson is a survivor of rape and based the story on her own traumatic experience of being raped as teenager. She writes the novel in verse, and allows the reader insight into Melinda’s deepest thoughts and fears. Anderson wrote Speak during a time when rape was still a very controversial topic, and in doing so encouraged many of her readers to find their own voices to share their stories. In her note at the beginning of the book, she writes “may you always have the courage to speak up.” Her book allows you to follow Melinda’s journey of self-discovery and her voice, and allows the reader to reflect on their life too.

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