In Speak the entire school has prepared for Winter Break. The students usually decide to throw all kinds of objects at the school office as a sign of rebellion. Melinda has just got into an immense dispute with Heather, for Heather believes Melinda is boring, depressed, and needs professional help. She then reveals they never were real friends and have nothing in common. In other words, Melinda has become even more vulnerable and at this point in the book, has no friends for the second time. Valentines Day has arrived and belated Melinda finds an envelope in her locker. She decides to put it off for a while and goes to class before she reads it. She assumes it was from the only nice guy in class,David, and profusely thanks him for the letter. When she actually opens the letter she discovers the friendship necklace she gave Heather for Christmas. Heather wants nothing to do with Melinda and turns against her imminently. Melinda felt deteriorated and begins to skip school. While skipping school she ran into a guy she considers the devil. In simpler words, according to contextual clues, he was most likely the boy who raped her last summer. Melinda freezes when she sees the predator and bolts away when he indifferently waves at her. In addition, Merry Weather teachers have also transformed according to Melinda. Melinda's one and only favorite teacher, Mr. Freeman, has stopped running class conversations and even forgets he has students in his class. Melinda ultimately discovers herself ostracized and detested by her entire school community. At lunch one day, Melinda oversees the Martha Club and Heather talking behind her back. All she could see was their lips moving and their fingers pointing towards her, for she was so excluded from the rest of the school that it would have been formidable to actually hear them. Not only has Melinda's friends and family noticed she has changed, but her school counselors have also. They compare Melinda to the Melinda from last year and conclude they are drastically different. This year, she is far from the Honor Roll and has had numerous absences. Moreover, in these few chapters of the book, Melinda reveals hows she was raped. In fact, she explains that she went off with her friend Rachel to a Senior party one summer night and had a few drinks; Since the party was really hot, she went outside into the woods for some fresh air where she encountered a "sweet" boy. He looked very nice Melinda stated and kissed him right away. He began to touch her and by the time Melinda wanted to stop him, it was to late. He covered her mouth while she shrieked for him to stop and this was the nightmare that generated Melinda's social, academic, and psychological downfall.
Quote:
"There is a sprinkling of losers like me scattered among the happy teenagers, prunes in the oatmeal of school. The others have the social power to sit with other losers. I'm the only one sitting alone..."(Anderson 128).
Reaction:
This quote I believe is very powerful, for here we have Melinda categorizing her own self as a loser. It isn't other students calling her insulting names, but instead her own self. She continues to believe she has no true value and that her past has determined her present and future. What caught most my attention was the imagery in these few sentences. I can right away picture prunes in an oatmeal and how different and miserable Melinda feels compared to the rest of her school. In other words, although we are half through the book, Melinda has not changed as a character and continues to be the dejected teenager with no friends, love, and attention. I think that from this point on, Melinda might change as a character and will start making friends and opening up to her family and school community because as we know this is a story and if the miserable situation occurred at the beginning, we can foresee a good ending. All in all, that is only an inference, let's see what really happens! Anderson might have Melinda continue in a gloom until the last few pages of the book to keep us at the edge of our seats and in suspense.
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