A Literary Analysis of Speak
Think back to your freshman year of high school; you were starting to become more independent and you friends were most valuable to you. They’re who you turned to when you didn’t know what to do; they give you advice when you don’t know which way to turn, or which road to take. What if all your friends suddenly hated you? You would feel alone and become depressed. This is very much the case for Melinda Sardino, the main character in the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. Melinda called the cops at an end of summer party when she was attacked and now everyone hates her although no one knows what really happened. Melinda became depressed and the fact that her parents couldn’t care less about what’s happening to her didn’t help. Anderson’s comedy shows the reader the effect that depression and bad parenting have on everyday life.
To understand the role that depression and bad parenting plays, you have to look at the sequence of events in correlation to the mode of literature. Starting the book out was Melinda’s first day of high school and Melinda is just as nervous as everyone else as she walks on the bus thinking “where to sit?”(pg.1) It’s normal life, the first indication of a comedy; yet the sense of normalcy dissipated rather quickly when everyone remembers Melinda Sordino called the cops at the end of summer party. Now Melinda’s best friend hates her, the entire school knows her name, and to top that off, her parents couldn’t care less about what’s happening to her, her conflict had arisen.
Melinda keeps on getting more and more depressed because of the fact that everyone hates her, but when finally she takes the bull by the horns and ends her misery once and for all, she takes control of her life again. The fact that no one knows about what happened at the party drove Melinda to a breaking point; she finally had to tell someone what about what happened when Andy Evans attacked her at the party, and she told the one person who she had once trusted the most, ex-best friend Rachel. Shortly after that Andy Evans holds Melinda in a closet against her will and Melinda yells, “NNNOOO!!!” (pg.194). It was the best decision she had ever made, she was in control once more, it was resolution of all her conflicts . Melinda was forgiven by everyone who had held a grudge against her, she was free to be herself once more.
With the mode in mind, you can see the effects that Melinda's depression has on her everyday life. Melinda showed many signs of depression throughout the book from staying in small dark places to cutting wrists. She started out simply avoiding mirrors at school and taking them out of her room, but shortly after that she started hanging out in an old deserted closet. When Melinda was a assigned trees for her art project she drew ugly black dead trees. But the worst came later when she cut her wrists with a paper clip, an obvious cry for help. All this is not simply your every day case of a depressed teenager, but it is much more it could even be PTSD(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), a result of when she was attacked at the party.
To any good parent all these symptoms would be seen as a desperate cry for help, but Melinda's parents are anything but good parents. To communicate with one another they use a system of sticky notes; I mean yeah if you’re going to be late go ahead and put a note on the counter, but every day is going way overboard. They're severing any family communications that they ever had. As time goes on, the parenting only gets worse when Melinda’s grades keep slipping and her parents think she’s just trying to make a point, “Mom: (creepy smile) Thought you could put one over on us, did you, Melinda? Big high school student now, don’t need to show your homework to your parents. Dad: Cut the crap.”(pg.35). But the worst comes later after Melinda cuts her wrists, “Mom: I don’t have time for this, Melinda.
Me:
She says suicide is for is for cowards. This is an uglynasty Momside.
She bought a book about it. Tough love. Sour sugar. Barbed velvet.
Silent talk.” (pg. 88)
Honestly? Who buys a book about suicide for your kid who just cut their wrists?!?! These parents should have never gotten married let alone had a child.
The effects of depression and bad parenting on a teen's life can be catastrophic if they are not handled properly. If Melinda had friends and family that loved and cared about her, she could have overcome her fear and depression and became a normal kid just like you and me.
Think back to your freshman year of high school; you were starting to become more independent and you friends were most valuable to you. They’re who you turned to when you didn’t know what to do; they give you advice when you don’t know which way to turn, or which road to take. What if all your friends suddenly hated you? You would feel alone and become depressed. This is very much the case for Melinda Sardino, the main character in the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. Melinda called the cops at an end of summer party when she was attacked and now everyone hates her although no one knows what really happened. Melinda became depressed and the fact that her parents couldn’t care less about what’s happening to her didn’t help. Anderson’s comedy shows the reader the effect that depression and bad parenting have on everyday life.
To understand the role that depression and bad parenting plays, you have to look at the sequence of events in correlation to the mode of literature. Starting the book out was Melinda’s first day of high school and Melinda is just as nervous as everyone else as she walks on the bus thinking “where to sit?”(pg.1) It’s normal life, the first indication of a comedy; yet the sense of normalcy dissipated rather quickly when everyone remembers Melinda Sordino called the cops at the end of summer party. Now Melinda’s best friend hates her, the entire school knows her name, and to top that off, her parents couldn’t care less about what’s happening to her, her conflict had arisen.
Melinda keeps on getting more and more depressed because of the fact that everyone hates her, but when finally she takes the bull by the horns and ends her misery once and for all, she takes control of her life again. The fact that no one knows about what happened at the party drove Melinda to a breaking point; she finally had to tell someone what about what happened when Andy Evans attacked her at the party, and she told the one person who she had once trusted the most, ex-best friend Rachel. Shortly after that Andy Evans holds Melinda in a closet against her will and Melinda yells, “NNNOOO!!!” (pg.194). It was the best decision she had ever made, she was in control once more, it was resolution of all her conflicts . Melinda was forgiven by everyone who had held a grudge against her, she was free to be herself once more.
With the mode in mind, you can see the effects that Melinda's depression has on her everyday life. Melinda showed many signs of depression throughout the book from staying in small dark places to cutting wrists. She started out simply avoiding mirrors at school and taking them out of her room, but shortly after that she started hanging out in an old deserted closet. When Melinda was a assigned trees for her art project she drew ugly black dead trees. But the worst came later when she cut her wrists with a paper clip, an obvious cry for help. All this is not simply your every day case of a depressed teenager, but it is much more it could even be PTSD(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), a result of when she was attacked at the party.
To any good parent all these symptoms would be seen as a desperate cry for help, but Melinda's parents are anything but good parents. To communicate with one another they use a system of sticky notes; I mean yeah if you’re going to be late go ahead and put a note on the counter, but every day is going way overboard. They're severing any family communications that they ever had. As time goes on, the parenting only gets worse when Melinda’s grades keep slipping and her parents think she’s just trying to make a point, “Mom: (creepy smile) Thought you could put one over on us, did you, Melinda? Big high school student now, don’t need to show your homework to your parents. Dad: Cut the crap.”(pg.35). But the worst comes later after Melinda cuts her wrists, “Mom: I don’t have time for this, Melinda.
Me:
She says suicide is for is for cowards. This is an uglynasty Momside.
She bought a book about it. Tough love. Sour sugar. Barbed velvet.
Silent talk.” (pg. 88)
Honestly? Who buys a book about suicide for your kid who just cut their wrists?!?! These parents should have never gotten married let alone had a child.
The effects of depression and bad parenting on a teen's life can be catastrophic if they are not handled properly. If Melinda had friends and family that loved and cared about her, she could have overcome her fear and depression and became a normal kid just like you and me.
I really liked your word choice in your paper, it was very impressive John! Next time, I would double-check your paper for errors, I only saw a few but next time I would double check. Overall very impressive paper!
ReplyDeleteVery good paper John, you used great voice, which isn't easy,and also used plwenty of text evidence, that is a good attribute to having a good paper. Next time you may want to consider proofreading a little more. Overall great paper John.
ReplyDeleteVery nice introduction. Word choice is outstanding. Your Conclusion was out of the park.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your word choice. The text evidence was great too. Both of them helped me to understand your essay more.
ReplyDeleteReally nice job John,I was really impressed by your word chice, im amazed on how you wrote the paper, if your paper was in a show you would win first prize, but that's just me saying that mabey other people think otherwise.
ReplyDelete