How does Melinda feel the first day of high school? Why? Melinda is sick with a stomachache and she also feels like an outcast because she has no friends. The new mascot for Merryweather High School is a Blue Devil.

In Speak, Melinda decides to skip school because she realizes that the time she spends on her own away from her peers, her teachers, and her parents actually makes her feel a bit better and more at ease.

Melinda decides to skip school. She wanders around town, takes the bus to the mall, and ends up just waiting for school to get out so she will be safe to go home. By the end of the day, Melinda decides skipping school is not much different from going. In English, Melinda’s class is reading The Scarlet Letter.

When Melinda actually skips school, she goes to the mall, the hospital, and eventually back to the scene of her rape. The first two locations provide safety in numbers while providing her with the opportunity to hide in public.

Melinda spends the next two weeks making and hanging the posters for Heather and the can drive. She is hanging one up outside the metal shop room when suddenly IT creeps up behind her and whispers in her ear, “Freshmeat.” IT keeps finding her and she cannot ignore IT.

Melinda, however, is not interested in gaining popularity and spends much of her time in an abandoned janitor’s closet at school. She has stolen some late passes, so she uses the closet as a hideout to avoid teachers she dislikes and painful interactions with her former friends.

Mr. Neck storms into history class one day and begins a debate on immigration because he feels his son is unable to get a job because of immigrants. Neck sees that they do not agree with his premise that the United States should have closed its borders in 1900, and he shuts down the debate.

Melinda Sordino is, personally, the most interesting character in the book ‘Speak’ by Laurie Halse Anderson. Her physical appearance is small and skinny, but always wearing baggy clothes. Melinda’s personality somewhat coincides with her physical appearance; She is very shy, anxious, an outcast, and insecure.

No one, however, knows Melinda’s biggest secret, the reason she dialed 911 over the summer–a senior named Andy Evans raped her while she was drunk at the party.

Melinda stays silent due to trauma and fear. The summer before entering high school, Melinda was sexually assaulted at a house party. She ends up calling the police which causes her peers to hate her for being a “snitch.” However, they are unaware of the real reason she calls which completely isolates her.

Why do you think Melinda is having difficulty talking? Because she is traumatized by the things the things that have happened to her.

Melinda’s free-spirited, kind, warm art teacher, Mr. Freeman is the only adult whom Melinda respects or trusts. He tells his students to use art to express their emotions, and helps Melinda to once again find her voice by forcing her to focus on a single subject—a tree—over the entire year.

fourteen years

Near the beginning of the novel, Melinda is assigned a tree as her yearlong assignment in art class. As the narrative progresses, Melinda’s attempts to draw a tree come to symbolize her ability to move past her rape, and to mature as a person.

Andy Evans is the antagonist in Speak. He is a narcissistic senior in high school who is used to getting his way, either through charm or by force. After raping Melinda at a summer party, he continues to antagonize her throughout the novel, showing his inability to empathize with others.

Melinda’s teachers in Speak are Ms. Keen, Mr. Neck, Mr. Stetman, Hairwoman, Ms.

Rachael ditches Andy in the middle of it for dancing suggestively People are starting to see him for his true self. She doesn’t want to hide anymore. She defends herself and holds a piece of glass to andy throat and the lacrosse team finds them before anything happens.

Andy Evans was taken to court and set on trial for second-degree rape and third-degree assault of Melinda Sordino, and was proven guilty. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison with parole in a young offender institution.

Mr. Freeman

Andy tells Melinda she’s a liar – she messed things up for him by telling Rachel that he raped her. Andy says that girls have sex with him because they want to – he doesn’t have to rape them.

Little Writing on the Wall Freeman lets Melinda go to the bathroom. While Melinda is trying to get the marker off her shirt, in walks Ivy. Melinda asks for one of Ivy’s markers. She writes “Guys to Stay Away From” (81.22) on the wall.

Heather wants Melinda to help decorate and says that she will repay Melinda by helping her redesign her room.

How does Melinda learn to improve her trees for art class? She decides to take a risk on the art and tries knew things. She is finally ready to let go and use her emotion in the tree.

What does Melinda write her extra-credit report about? She wrote her extra-credit report about the Suffragettes. Mr. Neck wants her to give an oral presentation.

David acts in a friendly way towards Melinda, and may even show romantic interest in her, despite her hesitance and mistrust around people, particularly men. He also helps her to join in his fight against Mr.

In Speak, Melinda finds her voice with the help of her friend Ivy as well her art teacher, Mr. Freeman. The person who motivates her the most to speak up, however, is the one who actually took her voice away in the first place—Andy Evans, her rapist.

The dissection triggers Melinda’s trauma; suddenly she can “feel the cut, smell the dirt, leaves in my hair.” Overwhelmed by her traumatic memory, she faints, and hits her head on the table. Another routine biology activity—dissecting a frog—becomes traumatic for Melinda.

First, Melinda’s use of a paperclip to scratch her wrist symbolizes her hopelessness. Much like Melinda’s nail-biting and lip-biting, scratching herself is another way she tries to express physically the pain she feels emotionally.

Why does Melinda cry on Christmas day? Her parents gave her a sketch pad with charcoal pencils. She got art stuff and did not realize her parents even noticed her drawing and didn’t say thank you.

High school senior Andy Evans rapes Melinda at the end-of-summer party just before Melinda starts 9th grade. She calls the cops to report the rape, but leaves before they show up. The party is busted and everybody thinks Melinda got them in trouble on purpose.