Put enough pressure on a character and all the strengths and weakness come tumbling out. Most students find melindas take on her teachers and her classes refreshingly entertaining. Anderson perfectly depicts the cliques, heartbreaks, and reality of high school. Getting the opportunity to speak at a high school can be rewarding as well as careerbuilding, but is not always the easiest thing to arrange. The title of the book, speak, is ironically based on the fact that melinda chooses not to speak. You will have time to get to your class before the bell rings. After a blurred trauma over the summer, melinda enters high school a selective mute. After accidentally busting an end of summer party due to an unnamed incident, melinda is ostracized by her peers because she will not say why she called the police. Lets follow melinda sordinos journey through her first year of high school and see how her ups and downs shape her identity in the novel speak by laurie. Melinda, a high school freshman, is the protagonist in laurie halse andersons speak.
Speak, published in 1999, is a young adult novel by laurie halse anderson that tells the story of high school freshman melinda sordino. Her old friends wont talk to her, much less sit with her on the bus. What school did melinda go to in the book speak answers. He rapes melinda at a party the summer before her first year of high school. Another powerful scene in speak is when melinda confronts andy evans. While melindas smart and savvy interior narrative slowly reveals the searing pain of that 911 night, it also nails the highschool experience cold.
Melinda mel sordino is the main character and narrator of laurie halse anderson s 1999 novel speak. Melinda goes to merryweather high school in speak we shouldnt lose hope at the hardest time of our life. Our football team will win the championship this year. Melinda does not give nicknames to everybody she comes in contact with, though. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one. Laurie halse andersons courageous novel speak tells the powerful story of high school freshman melinda sordino and her recovery from sexual assault.
After analyzing bus seating etiquettewastecases sit in the back, too many people sit in the middle, and young children sit in the frontmelinda decides to take a seat near the front of the bus, figuring that it is her best chance of seeing her friends. He is a sleazy, but attractive, senior boy with a reputation for inappropriate behavior with girls. Shes riding the bus to her first day of high school. What is the name of melindas school in speak answers. I would recommend speak to anybody, boy or girl, from middle school to high school. Principal principal is the name that melinda gives the high school principal. The character of melinda sordino in speak from litcharts the.
With kristen stewart, elizabeth perkins, richard hagerman, allison siko. May 10, 2011 the first ten lies they tell you in high school. May 31, 2018 back then, gates was known as melinda french and was speaking at the 1982 commencement at ursuline academy in dallas, texas. Melinda sordino begins her freshman year at merryweather high school in syracuse, new york, with a heavy secret weighing on her. List all three mascots that have been used at merryweather high and explain. The summer before starting high school, she was raped by a senior. Her last name, sordino, is an italian word that can be translated as deaf. Melinda has no strong feelings about him either way, which is why she calls him. Describe how the students at merryweather high school treat melinda she is hated by everyone. The protagonist of speak, melinda begins high school and the novel traumatized by a rape that occurred at the hands of upperclassman andy evans at a party the summer before. Name the different clans at merryweather high in the book speak.
Speak follows melinda through her first year of high school, from the depths of her isolation to the beginnings of her renewal. The protagonist of speak, melinda begins high school and the novel traumatized by a rape that occurred at the hands of upperclassman andy evans at a party. On the first day of school,she cant make friends on the first day which most people can relate too. Nobody at school will talk to melinda, including rachel bruin, whos been her best friend forever.
Speak, by laurie halse anderson, is a book about the trials and tribulations of high school life. Melinda sordino begins her freshman year at merryweather high school in. The novel begins on melindas first day in high school. An uncannily funny book even as it plumbs the darkness, speak will hold readers from first word to last. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself. Melinda sordino starts her first day of high school like any other teenager. Oct 22, 1999 the first ten lies they tell you in high school. She also does poorly in school, and doesnt socialize very easily with other students. The characters ordeals were based on andersons own experiences. She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an endofsummer party by calling the cops, so. From the first moment of her freshman year at merryweather high, melinda knows this is a big fat lie, part of the nonsense of high school. Melinda called the police at a summer party because a boy she didnt. Melinda sordino enters merryweather high school as a freshman.
In 2002, she published a book that took place in the same high school as speak called catalyst. Over the summer, she and her friends went to a party and melinda ended up calling the police, causing her friends and everyone at the party to socially reject her. This is because when melinda was raped by andy evans she was depressed and loses hope. Since speak was published in 1999, laurie has devoted herself to helping survivors like melinda to find their voice.
They all think shes a squealer because she called the cops. Most students find melinda s take on her teachers and her classes refreshingly entertaining. She has not told anyone about the rape, however, and her classmates loathe her for calling the police on the party, while her parents and teachers are disappointed and. The summer before starting high school, she was raped by a senior student, andy evans. Written by laurie halse anderson, the young adult novel speak is narrated by its protagonist, melinda, who is beginning her freshman year of high school, isolated and alone after being raped at a. Merryweather high is the high school melinda sordino attends in the novel speak. The speak quotes below all refer to the symbol of melindas closet. Melindas only friend is heather, a new student, who. I give the book speak three out of five stars just because some parts of the book were hard for me to follow and i didnt really get the ending of the book.
Speak by laurie halse anderson speak, by laurie halse anderson, is a story written in the first person about a young girl named melinda sordino. Speak up for yourselfwe want to know what you have to say. The main character melinda, has a particularly hard time fitting in because of an incident that took place over the summer anderson, 1999. The book speak was written by laurie halse anderson, it is a drama, the first date.
She is friendless, outcast, because she busted an endofsummer party by calling the cops, so now nobody will talk to her, let. She has seven new notebooks, a skirt she hates and a stomachache. We pass janitors painting over the sign in front of the high school. The opening scene can be analyzed on literary and social levels in its honest portrayal of high school. She struggles with her identity, family and a new school. In 1999, anderson published what is still her best known book, speak. Melinda sordino is the main character of the book speak. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Speak by laurie halse anderson 1740 words 123 help me. The book is written in the form of a monologue in the mind of melinda, a teenage introvert. The novel was a critical success and went on to be published in 16 languages as well as becoming a national book award finalist.
The story is told mostly in short paragraphs, snippets of her life that read as though we too are trapped, voiceless, inside her head. It is melinda sordinos first day of ninth grade at merryweather high school and she is the first one on the school bus. Oct 25, 2017 melinda sordinos freshman year of high school is not starting off the way she wanted. How does melindas tree art progress throughout the novel. Mar 16, 2019 its been 20 years since andersons groundbreaking novel speak was published it tells the story of melinda, a freshman in high school who stops speaking after a sexual assault. If you appreciate her humor, you might also enjoy some of the column written by dave barry, a humorist who writes for the miami herald. Melinda sordino character analysis in speak litcharts. In speak, what does melinda name the high schools principal. Its been 20 years since andersons groundbreaking novel speak was published it tells the story of melinda, a freshman in high school who stops speaking after a sexual assault. Speak was a 1999 national book award finalist for young peoples literature. Now her daughter, jennifer, 22, is slated to graduate from stanford. How to get booked to speak at high schools synonym. She is 15 years old and is beginning her freshman year at merryweather high school. Melinda sordinos freshman year of high school is not starting off the way she wanted.
Laurie tells a story of a high school girl dealing with bullying, and being hated. In laurie halse andersons powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. The book is written in a monologue from melinda sordinos perspective, she is a freshman 14 years old and it begins as she starts high school. Like in the book when melinda and heather are at the assembly and people. Melinda inhaling pepperoni and mushroom and no one ever eats in the family room, no.
Contacting the school administration, or even different. Melinda gates shares her high school graduation speech cnbc. What are the mascots at merryweather high school in speak. It is told from melindas poignant, outspoken point of view. One summer, prior to starting ninth grader at merry weather high school, melinda mel sordino goes to a. Study guide for the novel speak by laurie halse anderson. This is a gritty, powerful book that teachers and parents could use to launch a number of discussions. Speak kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole book. Back then, gates was known as melinda french and was speaking at the 1982 commencement at ursuline academy in dallas, texas. Melinda s only friend is heather, a new student, who.