SPEAK Pg 138-198

Summary:

            One day Melinda was staying after school with her art teacher to work on her tree project. The teacher stepped outside the classroom for a few minutes and someone walked in. it was HIM. The guy who had raped her in the summer time. He was asking for Rachel. He looked at Melinda like nothing had ever happened. She stared at him and couldn’t even talk. It seemed like a million of nightmares had come to life and she felt like she was back on the ground experiencing the same thing as in the summer. Rachel walked in and broke the silence. She looked at Melinda and then she turned around and hugged Andy. Her ex-best friend was going out with the guy who raped her. Now more than ever Melinda wanted to tell Rachel what really happened. During their study period Melinda finally walks up to Rachel and starts talking to her. She tells Rachel that she didn’t call the cops because she was tired of the party but because someone raped her. When Melinda tells Rachel that Andy was the one who raped her, Rachel refuses to believe her instead she tells Melinda that she is just jealous.

            

          After school Melinda walks into her little closet to take out her paintings and her tree project. It was really hot in there so she leaves the door a little open. When she turns around ready to walk out the door, he’s there. Andy moves her back into the closet and locks the door behind him. He starts telling her how she ruined his reputation. Rachel didn’t want to go to prom with him anymore and all the other girls were talking bad about him. He claimed to have never raped her. He presses his body against her the same way as he did before. She tries to scream but her voice doesn’t come out. She tries again and this time she does scream loud enough for the whole school to hear her. She takes a branch of the tree she created and she brakes the mirror in the wall. She takes a piece of glass and points it on his face. He backs away. She gets out of the closet and everyone finally understands what kind of monster he is.

             

Quote:

           

         “The words fall like nails on the floor, hard, pointed. I try to walk around him. He blocks my way. “Oh, no. you’re not going anywhere. You really screwed things up for me.” He reaches behind and locks the door. Click.” (Anderson 193)

Reflection:

            

          Reading the last pages of this book made me somehow sad thinking that the same thing was going to happen to Melinda again. I feel bad that Rachel didn’t believe Melinda when she told her what really happened. Instead she told Melinda that she was just jealous.  Im happy that in the end Melinda found the courage that she needed in herself to stand up to Andy and stop him from hurting her again. She should have done the same thing since the beginning. Once she stood up to Andy she felt like a lot of weight was lifted from her. Now she felt much better. 

SPEAK Pg 71- 137

Summary:

            Melinda is a very good artist. From the beginning of the school year, her art teacher has assigned a project that is due by the end of the year. Melinda has to create a tree, she has to work on it, to improve it and to tell a story with it. She has to work on it every single day but she can’t do it at home its way to distracting. In school she found a unused room. It’s more like a closet for the genitor that seemed like it has not been used for years. She managed to fix it, to clean it up and turn it into a room for her, filled with artwork and her tree project. Every time she feels alone and when she doesn’t want to go to class or home after school, she ends up in the small room working on her project. Heather hangs out with the “Marthas” now, the popular girls in the school. Melinda has come to understand that they only want Heather to do their homework and that’s the only reason that they allow her to sit with them in the lunch table.

            
         In the end of these pages, Melinda is laying down in her bed looking outside the window at the moon. She remembers how the moon used to be closer in the summertime. She reflects back to the night that changed her life. She remembers how Rachel got them into the end-of-the-summer party because of her older brother. That was the day that Melinda tasted beer for the first time. She also met a really cute guy. He was very handsome and he was a senior. She felt so happy that he asked her to dance and kissed her. But then, the moment that changed her life came. She was on the ground staring at the moon with his hand over her mouth. She couldn’t talk she couldn’t tell him to stop. She remembers her short being down and him getting up zipping his pants and walking away. The next thing she knows is the phone dialing 911 and the police sirens outside.  

Quote:

            “He tilted my face up to his. He kissed me. Nearly knocked me off my feet, that kiss. And I thought for just a minute there that I had a boyfriend, I would start high school with a boyfriend, older and stronger and ready to watch out for me. He kissed me again.” (Anderson 135)

Reflection:

            I like this quote because it shows how Melinda was fooled. She believed that this guy really cared about him. That he actually wanted to start a relationship with her but instead he hurt her in the worst possible way. After what happened every one blames Melinda for ruining the party because no one ever bothered to listen or even ask Melinda for what really happened to her. Not even her best friend Rachel. 

SPEAK Pg 1-70

Summary:

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson portrays the first year of high school of a 13 years old girl named Melinda.  The story is told by Melinda herself and is divided into sections that describe a specific part of her day. Melinda just started high school. The summer before school started her and her best friends went to a party where most people were older than them. Something happened at the party that made Melinda call the cops. Because of that when school started, the girls she grew up with and considered her best friends stopped talking to her. The first day of school was horrible for Melinda. She was all alone because no one would talk to her since they remembered her as the girl who crushed the party by calling the cops. The only girl who talks to her is a new girl Heather, who has no idea what happened during the summer. Heather talks a lot which sometimes bothers Melinda but in the same time she feels kind of happy that she is not alone.

Quote:

            “Rachel Bruin, my ex-best friend. She stares at something above my left ear. Words climb up my throat. This was the girl who suffered through Brownies with me, who taught me how to swim, who understood about my parents, who didn’t make fun of my bedroom. If there is anyone in the entire galaxy I am dying to tell what really happened, it’s Rachel. My throat burns. Her eyes meet mine for a second. “I hate you,” she mouths silently.” (Anderson 5)

Reflection:

            This quote shows how what happened during the summer time changed Melinda’s relationship with her best friend. The girl that she has known for all her life and that have been together for a long time. Melinda wishes that Rachel would listen to her so Melinda can explain why she had to call the cops at the party. But Rachel has changed a lot. According to Melinda, she tries so hard to fit in and she wouldn’t listen to what Melinda has to say. Melinda reflects back to the times prior to the party, when she and Rachel used to make plans about high school but everything has changed. She has lost her best friend who apparently hates her now.