Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Image retrieved from www.amazon.com

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux: 1999. ISBN: 0374371520

2. PLOT SUMMARY

Melinda Sordino is an outcast from the first day of her Freshman year at Merryweather High. She called the cops at an end-of-summer party, resulting in several student arrests, and now her friends want nothing to do with her. She is harassed and ridiculed. What no one knows is the real reason Melinda made that phone call. She was raped by a popular senior boy whom she refers to as “IT.” “I see IT in the hallway. IT goes to Merryweather … IT is my nightmare and I can’t wake up.” Instead of telling someone - anyone - she hides away inside her head and stops speaking. With the help of Mr. Freeman, her art teacher, she learns how to draw a tree that is alive and breathing, and in the process she gains her own life back - and her voice.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Laurie Halse Anderson creates a character in Melinda who has no voice. She says, “Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze.... It's like I have some kind of spastic laryngitis.” Ironically, by creating a character with no voice, she gives her a voice that is loud and clear. She is a voice speaking out on behalf of all young adults who have been the victim of sexual assault or rape. She says that there is life and breath beyond the hurt and pain. While Anderson creates a good story about a high school freshman who is outcast because of a bad decision at a party, Melinda’s journey to regain her voice, and her life, is the true story.

The story in this novel is true to life and portrays a typical high school experience. There are cliques, clans, bullies, hunks, and jocks. Rumors are spread quickly, and reputations are at stake. Melinda’s voice inside her head is characteristic of the typical high schooler. She makes up nicknames for the teachers and administration like, “Principal Principal” and “Mr. Neck.” She plays on words and calls Phys Ed “Fizz Ed” instead. These small details are appealing to high schools because they can relate to her feelings about her teachers. The reader is pulling for Melinda and for the truth to be revealed to everyone.

The setting for Speak is Syracuse, New York. A date isn’t given in the book, but the reader can assume it takes place in the 1990s. While much of the novel is set in Merryweather High School and Melinda’s house, the action mostly takes place inside Melinda’s head. The reader gets a front row seat to Melinda’s thoughts and feelings.

There are several themes throughout this novel - isolation, finding your voice, fear, life, and more. The one that stands out most is the theme of life. This theme begins when Mr. Freeman, the art teacher, assigns Melinda an object that she will spend the rest of the year learning how to turn into a piece of art. She is assigned a tree. Trees are a universal symbol for life - for growth and redemption. Melinda struggles throughout the book to turn a tree into a piece of art that doesn’t look dead. It is only at the end of the book, when she regains her own life, that she finally gets her tree right. She says, “My tree is definitely breathing; little shallow breaths like it just shot up through the ground this morning … Roots knob out of the ground and the crown reaches for the sun, tall and healthy. The new growth is the best part.” She is finally alive again, after her “long undersnow dormancy” and her new growth is the best part. She has survived.

Anderson’s organization of this novel is much like the organization of a high schooler’s life. It’s divided into four sections - a section for each of the marking periods for the school year. Each section concludes with Melinda’s report card for that marking period. By organizing the book this way, Anderson relates to high school students whose lives beat to the same rhythm. She also relates to adult readers who are well past this stage of life. She transports them back to the days when it seemed like what people thought of you made you who you were. In the end, all high schoolers are trying to find their voice and their life - who they are - whether it’s due to painful experiences or not. Anderson writes a novel about a difficult topic, and at the same time composes a universal story.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

2000 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature Honor Book

From SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL - “Anderson expresses the emotions and the struggles of teenagers perfectly. Melinda's pain is palpable, and readers will totally empathize with her. This is a compelling book, with sharp, crisp writing that draws readers in, engulfing them in the story.”

From BOOKLIST - “Melinda's sarcastic wit, honesty, and courage make her a memorable character whose ultimate triumph will inspire and empower readers.”

5. CONNECTIONS

Gather other books written by Laurie Halse Anderson to read such as:

• Fever 1793. ISBN 0689848919

• Wintergirls. ISBN 067001110X
• The Impossible Knife of Memory. ISBN 0670012092

Visit Laurie Halse Anderson’s official website here http://teachers.madwomanintheforest.com/youngadult-speak/ for a teacher’s guide (including a guide for student discussion on rape, social action projects, a poem written by Anderson for analysis and comparison, and more).

Have students keep a journal while they read the book. Journal topics include: first day of school, high school cliques, lies they tell you in school, embarrassing or humiliating moments, what your report cards say about you, etc.