Charlie

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Important Parts Of The Book

When its the first day of school and she is introduced to all of the new teachers.

When she mention that she likes a boy named David but he doesn't pay any attention to her.

When she gets bullied in gym because she called the cops on some party and then everyone stares at her.

When her parents think that she is acting up in school and want to know what is wrong.

When her friend Heather stops being Melinda's friend to try to be friends with more cooler friends.

The school changed their mascot because they thought it was inappropriate.

Setting: Page 4: "Older students are allowed to roam until the bell, but ninth graders are herded to the auditorium. We fall into clans, Jocks, Country Clubbers, Idiot Servants, Cheerleaders, Human Waste, Euro trash, Future Fascists of America, Big Hair Chix, The Marthas, Suffering Artists, Thespians, Goths, and Shredders. I am clan less.

This passage is saying how the people are separated into groups which stay together almost like gangs. They each have their own sense of style in the way they dress and act."
The setting is in a school in which is not a happy school for Melinda because she is alone and no one likes her. The hallways are dark, the art room had a lot of light and gets a lot of sunlight because it has a lot of windows. There are a lot of students in the school who are very chatty at lunch. There are a lot of gossip girls who spread rumors and bully anyone who they don't like.

Theme: Page 3: "It is the first morning of High School. I have seven new notebooks, a skirt I hate and a stomachache."
The theme is from the point of view of a struggling girl at school who is not liked and she doesn't have a lot of friends. The mood in this story is depressing how this girl struggles to fit in.

Personal Traits: Page 105: " Your mean were not friends anymore. We were never really friends were we?I mean its not like I ever slept over your house or anything."
The Personal traits of Melinda who is the main character is to be sad and to feel sorry for herself. She is shy and doesn't feel good about herself. She isn't liked by the other girls. Her only friend Heather stopped being her friend because she is boring to be with, she is always depressed and she is always being sorry for herself.

Figurative Language: Page 18: " Gym should be illegal, its humiliating."
The figurative language in this book was very interesting. Every part of the book was divided into about a half of page to one whole page. This book has a lot of dialogue, in fact every conversation is recorded word for word. The part where Heather and Melinda get into a fight, its about an entire page of only them talking. This book is written from the first person view of Melinda. She had a nickname for almost every teacher which showed how she felt about the teachers.

Foreshadowing: Page 135: " He tilted my face up to his. He kissed me. He nearly knocked me off my feet. I thought a minute that I had a boyfriend, I would start the school year off with a boyfriend, older and stronger and ready to watch out for me. He kissed me again, his teeth ground hard against my lips."
This book had few scenes of foreshadowing. One example of foreshadowing in this book is when she talks about the party that she called the cops on and ruined the party. She explains that she was at the party and was raped. She called the cops because she was raped and everyone hates her for calling the cops because they think that she called the cops just to break up the party.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Important Parts Of The Book

When its the first day of school and she is introduced to all of the new teachers.

When she mention that she likes a boy named David but he doesn't pay any attention to her.

When she gets bullied in gym because she called the cops on some party and then everyone stares at her.

When her parents think that she is acting up in school and want to know what is wrong.

When her friend Heather stops being Melinda's friend to try to be friends with more cooler friends.

The school changed their mascot because they thought it was inappropriate.

Setting: Page 4: "Older students are allowed to roam until the bell, but ninth graders are herded to the auditorium. We fall into clans, Jocks, Country Clubbers, Idiot Servants, Cheerleaders, Human Waste, Euro trash, Future Fascists of America, Big Hair Chix, The Marthas, Suffering Artists, Thespians, Goths, and Shredders. I am clan less.
This passage is saying how the people are separated into groups which stay together almost like gangs. They each have their own sense of style in the way they dress and act."
The setting is in a school in which is not a happy school for Melinda because she is alone and no one likes her. The hallways are dark, the art room had a lot of light and gets a lot of sunlight because it has a lot of windows. There are a lot of students in the school who are very chatty at lunch. There are a lot of gossip girls who spread rumors and bully anyone who they don't like.

Theme: Page 3: "It is the first morning of High School. I have seven new notebooks, a skirt I hate and a stomachache."
The theme is from the point of view of a struggling girl at school who is not liked and she doesn't have a lot of friends. The mood in this story is depressing how this girl struggles to fit in.

Personal Traits: Page 105: " Your mean were not friends anymore. We were never really friends were we?I mean its not like I ever slept over your house or anything."
The Personal traits of Melinda who is the main character is to be sad and to feel sorry for herself. She is shy and doesn't feel good about herself. She isn't liked by the other girls. Her only friend Heather stopped being her friend because she is boring to be with, she is always depressed and she is always being sorry for herself.

Figurative Language: Page 18: " Gym should be illegal, its humiliating."
The figurative language in this book was very interesting. Every part of the book was divided into about a half of page to one whole page. This book has a lot of dialogue, in fact every conversation is recorded word for word. The part where Heather and Melinda get into a fight, its about an entire page of only them talking. This book is written from the first person view of Melinda. She had a nickname for almost every teacher which showed how she felt about the teachers.

Foreshadowing: Page 135: " He tilted my face up to his. He kissed me. He nearly knocked me off my feet. I thought a minute that I had a boyfriend, I would start the school year off with a boyfriend, older and stronger and ready to watch out for me. He kissed me again, his teeth ground hard against my lips."
This book had few scenes of foreshadowing. One example of foreshadowing in this book is when she talks about the party that she called the cops on and ruined the party. She explains that she was at the party and was raped. She called the cops because she was raped and everyone hates her for calling the cops because they think that she called the cops just to break up the party.

The Plot

The plot is shown on page 113 in the fourth paragraph. This is where Melinda has a chance to turn her whole life around by telling her parents,the principal, and the guidance counselor what happened to her over the summer that is affecting her life now, and tell them that's why she's cutting class and depressed all the time and most importantly doesn't talk. She stays quiet and doesn't say anything which gets her more problems because now if she cuts they have a whole list of consequences for her but they don't know anything because she won't tell them. The significance of this passage is here was Melinda's chance to turn her life aroud just by speaking what she knows and she just threw it away. The author's purpose is to show how she had a chance, it's not like she was never given one to tell what happened. On Page 114, on the first paragraph her mother even tells her "You are only hurting yourself by refusing to cooperate." This is the author's purpose because the author brings us to the part of the story that will change everything. She can tell and get help and Andy Evans will get in trouble and everyone will know why she called the cops at the party or she can not tell and just go on letting it get worse and bring her whole life down. The effect this is going to have on the reader is to make them wonder what really happened to Melinda that she can't even speak about it. The reader will want to read on to see if they will ever find out and if she will ever tell or change to that nice sweet girl she is said to be or use to be.

Significant aspect of the novel

The significant aspect of this novel is that the main character is not telling anyone about what happened to her. She won't tell anyone about the party even when they ask her to Speak and she had a chance to tell her parents and everyone what happened. In the end she finally tells and life seemed to be improving already for her. I think that the moral of the book was to speak because if Melinda had spoken in the first place and said why she called the police at the party she would have started out with a better life in high school and she probably wouldn't even have to be dealing with Andy Evans again, Rachel would have still been her friend, and she wouldn't be acting all depressed and sad. Her grades would have probably been better and her relationship with her parents too but she let Andy Evans just ruin that for her. Melinda's whole story just shows how important it is to speak what you know or are feeling. In the end she does finally speak up when she says "I said no" to Andy Evans on page195, but at least she finally spoke up for herself.

Flashback

The significance of the passage is that she remembers how she got raped by Andy Evans. She remembers how excited she was to tell Rachel a senior was talking and flirting with her. On page 135, the first paragraph, She even thought she was going to start high school with a boyfriend to look out for her who is stronger and older. I think the authors purpose was to show how fast things can change, like when Melinda refers to him as Greek god and now she just calls him IT. This shows how fast a change in event can occur and how her past now haunts her that she's not even the same anymore. You that this is the authors purpose because she keeps thinking back to what happened in the summer to her. She never really says what happens until page 135 when she's on the roof in the snow thinking about it. This is where she finally tells the reader what has happened and now we know why she's afraid of Andy Evans. The effect this has on the reader is to keep them engaged in the book and keep reading on in suspense to find out what's going to happen.

The external conflict of the protagonist

The external conflict of the protagonist is dealing with her social life in high school. She has no friends at all at first because everyone hates her for calling the cops at the party. Then she meets a girl named heather and they become friends for a while until heather confronts her on page 105, paragraph two and says that she thinks Melinda is the most depressing person she has ever met and that she doesn't like anything. Melinda doesn't realize how much of a friend heather is until she is breaking up her friendship with her. Now Melinda is really without friends. In the last paragraph, Melinda says how she never really thought seriously of heather as one of her true friends but now that they broke up she desperately wants to be her friend and giggle,gossip, and even paint toenails. The significance of the passage is that Melinda didn't know she actually had a friend until she was gone. She was so caught up in being depressed that she never really took advantage and tried to be a good friend to heather, instead she is always depressed. The author's purpose is to show how what happened to Melinda has messed her up and now she can't even try to gain new friends while her old ones hate her. I know this is the author's purpose because while heather and Melinda were friends on page 34, Heather is all excited about joining the school play and is talking to Melinda about it who has a negative attitude. She tells Heather they can't join the play because they are nobody instead of supporting heather. So this is what heather must mean by Melinda not wanting to do anything. The effect it has on the reader is show them how Melinda ruined her chance to have at least one friend in high school and not always be alone because she just didn't want to do anything and it as obvious to heather she's depressed. So now the reader can see how her depression and rape is really affecting her life now. And maybe it's not that no one wants to be her friend it's probably just that how she is always depressed and not motivated drives them away from her.

The internal conflict of the protagonist

The internal conflict of the protagonist is that she was raped but she doesn't tell anyone about it. She acts different at home but she doesn't want to tell her parents who see a change in her. The significance of the passage is that now we know why in the story when she starts high school she is afraid of the guy she keeps calling IT, Andy Evans. On page 97, in the novel Speak, Andy Evans is holding out a doughnut to her and asking her if she wants a bite. He is obviously teasing her and she makes it obvious to him that she's scared when she runs away from him so quickly. Also in the beginning when she joins Heather at the Marthas table, while he is flirting with one named Emily who is interested in him, he comes over and starts playing around with Melinda's ponytail. The author's purpose is to show us from the beginning that Andy Evans has something to do with Melinda's behavior. We know this is the author's purpose because the author show's through Melinda's actions like calling Andy It and getting very uncomfortable around tells us there is something we don't know about him yet in the story. The effect this has on the reader is making them want to read on. The reader will want to find out more about who "IT" which is what Melinda calls him in the beginning of the story before revealing his name, what he's done to her to make her loose her friends and start off high school depressed and hated by people who barely know her.