The Character Development in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

In the first marking period it was shown that Melinda is a quiet, nervous and shy girl. She was struggling to find out who is friendly and who the enemies are on the first day of school. The Summer Before, Melinda was at a party. Her Ex-Best Friend Rachel/Rachelle was hosting the party with her older brother Andy Evans. Andy Evans seemed pretty cool at first when he found Melinda. He started talking to Melinda asking her if she wanted to dance and all that.

Then, the “incident” happened.

Melinda wanted to speak to the police on the telephone but she couldn't just let out a word. So, the officers said over the phone that they’d track the location. When the cops arrived, everyone escaped from the party and Rachel/Rachelle left Melinda behind. She hasn’t told anyone about the sexual assault incident with Andy Evans. The author of this book “Laurie Halse Anderson” wanted everyone to know that the plot of this book is to Speak, hence the name of the book ‘Speak’.

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Characters

The characters I chose are: Mr. Freeman. Andy Evans and Melinda Sordino. I chose Mr. Freeman as one of my characters because he is very supportive towards his students and honestly he is one of my favorite characters in the entire book. He’s friendly, chill and funny. The traits I chose for Mr. Freeman were: Encouraging, Supportive and Friendly. He’s encouraging due to at the start of the semester in art class, he made everyone pick a piece of paper out of a “destroyed globe” and that paper you get is the object/thing you’re gonna be drawing till the end of the semester.

When it was Melinda's turn to pick a piece of paper she got a Tree. She almost put it back but then Mr. Freeman said “Hey hey hey, you just picked your destiny don’t throw it away. So, that makes him Encouraging because he didn't want Melinda to just give up and pick another object. Melinda then insisted that she already knew how to draw a tree. She stated “I learned in grade 2 to draw a tree” Mr. Freeman then said: Okay, show me how to draw a tree.” Two boys then made a pig noise “Oink.” Mr. Freeman said “No commentary please”. He just doesn’t want art to be a place of negative comments. He wants it to be a safe space for everyone to feel free to express what they’re feeling. Supportive because he knows there are no wrong answers in art. Friendly, because there was a part in the book where Melinda didn't want to eat lunch in the cafeteria due to her not knowing anyone other then Rachel/Rachelle (her ex-best friend) but obviously since they didn't off in good terms.

So, she went to her art class which at the time Mr.Freeman was in. Mr. Freeman, said “Come in, sit down.” She ate her lunch their while doing some art. Most teachers, definitely would not like their students eating in their classroom. That's why I think Mr. Freeman is friendly. Andy Evans is aggressive because he pinned down Melinda last year at the Summer party. Melinda obviously didn’t want that to happen but Andy did anyways. He’s powerful because he’s a senior and he’s taller, stronger and faster then Melinda. Andy Evans is also fearless because when he sexually assaulted, he didn't care about the consequences that would happen to him. He’s also a very cocky person, just because he’s a senior he thinks he can run everyone and everything.

Melinda Sordino is a silent, shy and nervous type person. She is silent because she almost never talks. She didn’t talk at all in the first marking period but a little later she gave a note to her mom about some food she needed. Her mom was happy that Melinda had some sort of communication towards her. Melinda talked a little bit to Heather only because she talked to Melinda first. Melinda is shy because her ex-best friend Rachel which her name is now Rachelle and she’s the only person that Melinda really knows but now since they’re not friends anymore Melinda is pretty shy towards the class and she almost never talks unless its to David Petrakis. David Petrakis is Melinda’s hero because of how David Petrakis stood up towards Mr.Neck’s racial comments.

David immediately with no hesitation picks up his books and his bag and rushes to the office due to him not backing out of the conversation between him and Mr. Neck. The themes I saw in the book/movie were: Abuse, Paranoia, Bravery and Growth. I saw abuse because when Andy Evans pinned down Melinda Sordino at the summer party and sexually assaulted her.

I saw Bravery because David Petrakis stood up to Mr. Neck while he was making very racial comments towards “foreigners”. There was definitely growth involved in the book. Melinda went from not talking at all to leaving a note for her mom to get junk food from the grocery store to Melinda talking for once. It’s shocking because Melinda never talks. The lesson in the book is to always speak what your mind wants to. If you don't speak up in some situations you’re not helping your situation or anyone else's.