Speak Essay

Imagine if all your friends hated you for a reason that isn’t even true, you have nobody to turn to and no shoulder to cry on. This is what happened to the main character, Melinda, in the story "Speak" ; except for she also had something deeply tragic happen to her that she can't tell anyone; or doesn’t know how to. In this story many of the characters really don’t have true identities and the story also withholds a strong message.

First of all, Melinda really doesn’t know who she is yet; she doesn’t have a true identity. She hides in the crowd and even her bedroom doesn’t show who she is. It is a mixture of all of her friends personalities made into a bad mess… the only thing that actually shows who Melinda is, is her artwork; but even then it took her a while to get there. However, Melinda isn't the only one who hasn’t found who they truly are yet. There are many more people in this book who don’t express themselves and just change themselves to fit into cliques; this includes a girl that Melinda hung out with, Heather, she used Melinda as a person just to be there since she was the new girl at the school and her and Melinda were both outcasts. It shows that Melinda and Heather weren't "true" friends though when Heather decides to leave Melinda trying to fit into a new group called the Martha's.

"Speak" withholds a valuable lesson and it really is to speak up. Don’t let things be bottled up inside; they will only get worse. In the story "speak" Melinda doesn’t tell anyone about what happened to her that one night at the party; not even her friends or her parents. Instead nobody can help her move on from her tragic experience and also her friends hate her for a reason that isn't even true. They think she called the cops at the party because of drinking but really it was because she got raped. She was confused and embarrassed so she did not tell anybody about it. Eventually Melinda realizes what she has to do to move on from this situation; she told a friend that she trusted and she finally confronted Andy Evans, the culprit, about it. Since she did that she got the help and support she needed and started to put her life back on track and move on.

This book shows the challenges and obstacles in real life; it gives you many valuable lessons. It shows you to SPEAK UP because without doing so you'll never get to be where you want in life. Also, you have to be your self and let your personality shine because your life is too short to be somebody that you don’t want to be.