A Response to Speak

To speak; to produce sounds or audible sequences of individual or concatenated sounds of a language. Though this is the scientific way of looking at the act of articulating, there is so much more on an emotional stand point of speaking. Whatever you’re feeling, you always want to tell it to your friends and family; but, what if something happened? What if something happened so heinous and horrid that you couldn’t talk? Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson shows the importance of communication with others.

As summer was drawing to a fun-filled end, happy go lucky Melinda Sordino, the soon to be ninth grade protagonist and her “BFF” Rachel were headed to a party. Once the two friends had made it to the party, they soon find out there was alcohol on the premises. Though not shocking for any standard high school party, they were underage. Being naïve and in a way feebleminded, they each took a beer and didn’t think anything off it. As our main character becomes less and less sober, she and a stranger lock eyes. The protagonist is so happy knowing that she may actually have an older boyfriend going in to high school, but this was surely not an equal thought. When they finally start to talk, they seem to hit it off well and they decided to go for a walk. Melinda's meeting of an older boy who leads her away from the safety of numbers and into unknown danger is a common scenario you would likely see in a safety video. As they walk farther and farther away from the party, the unspeakable thing happens to Melinda. The high schooler she thought about being the one who would protect her, raped her. Like most rape victims, the rape affected Melinda tremendously and caused a downward spiraling of her emotional health. Not only is the rape an unbearable event to deal with alone, the whole school was shunning her for calling the cops during the party. Because of these events Melinda goes into a stage of being unsocial towards any and all people. This is as clear as glass during the hours she is in high school. Because of this, Melinda starts failing classes left and right except for Art. This may be because she can express her true feelings without the awful comments of peers. The art piece that is truthful to this statement is the turkey carcass sculpture in the chapter “Wishbone” (pages 61-65). In this piece a head of a Barbie figurine is resting inside of a turkey with tape place over her mouth. This array of horrific sight may be a metaphor for what she is going through in her dreadful life. Many may be shocked at this and think she may be an “Emo” or a “Goth” because of this, but at least she letting it out in a safe and nonviolent way. As the story progresses, our protagonist life goes from bad to worse when the rapist turns out to be a  student at the same school. Knowing this fact mentally torments her every day. Many couldn’t believe that this could actually happen, but it could, and it does. 

Though rape is a thing nobody would ever want to experience, what happened to Melinda is not the most uncommon thing. According to the Rape, Abused, and Incest National Network 29% of all rapes are between the ages of 12-17 years old. As stated before Melinda knows the rapist as the story goes on and this is true with actual rapes. 93% of juvenile sexual assault victims know their attacker, just as Melinda knew the rapist who soon revealed to the reader by his name, Andy Evans. Even though Melinda is a fictional character she realistically depicted the effect caused by rape. Contemplating suicide, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder are just a few of the terrible, terrible symptoms Melinda faced.  Thankfully Melinda tries to communicate about the traumatic events and isn’t shunned or looked at as a mental patient, but is embraced with kindness needed to overcome the past. 

Whether it be texting about a funny YouTube video or having a deep conversation about important subjects, communication can start and or improve relationships with others. With Melinda finally trusting someone, her life is now enhanced knowing that she can tell someone what is on her mind freely. Because of this, she can now begin a new life.