A young girl wanders down the school halls alone. She tries to avoid the stares of hatred, the stares of annoyance, and the stares of betrayal. All these stares, she doesn’t deserve them. Although she knows what she did was right she is the only one who knows the true story. No one knows, no one cares, and no one helps her through these drastic times for all she has to do, is speak. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a intricate novel filled with twist and turns. Speak shows that one of the best ways to manage your problems is to speak.
Throughout this riveting book Melinda, who is the main character, has many problems that she was not able to handle. One of these being the problem that took on a downward spiral through life; the summer party. This party which she though wouldn't affect anything, affected everything. Credulous she was at first, but scared she was after. At this average overcast party she went confused and blind. Drunken, shaken, and beaten, she left the party and meandered out into the woods. Alerted by some in a close proximity she pivoted around to find a man standing behind her. He said the words "Where did you come from? You're to beautiful to hide in the dark. Come dance with me." She was happy yet confused by why this guy chose her out of all the others. While she was blinded she was raped. After words, she saw that this was terrible and called the police, but she couldn't say a word. Meanwhile some kid saw her calling the police and alerted the others. This is mainly what caused that difficult dilemma she is in.
While she was dumb-stricken by this event, she thought that what would be ephemeral, the toll took its pay on Melinda. After down spiraling into nothing, Melina manages to salvage some of what she had lost. Like most raped victims, she keeps it a secret and haunts her. Does this affect her? Will she ever recover from this incident? This causes her and other people who get raped to be diffident. The major lesson learned here is to take a stand for yourself and to speak out.
