imagery

Imagery

Imagery is he verbal expression of sensory expirience. In Speak Melinda is usually thinking she doesnt talk much but we can all see what she thinks. In one example Melinda "thinks" "It feels like the prince of darkness has swept his cloak over the table." Melinda uses alot of figurative language wich helps us imagine how something looks.Since Melinda is depressed she doesnt talk much she thinks alot and nararates. She is very descriptive wich is good for the reader because we can imagine what is going on Its like a movie in our heads we can pcture what shes saying in our minds. Sometimes its better than a movie because we can detail it and make it our own but we do have Melinda's descriptive phrases.

About Laurie Halsen Anderson

Laurie Halsen Anderson was born on October 23rd, 1961 in Postdam in Northern New York State. When she was young, the only thing that she wanted was world peace. As a child, her favorite type of book was Historical Fiction. She loved writing but only thought of it is a hobby. She began as a freelance reporter. She soon began to write all types of books. Her first book was called "Ndito Runs" which was published in 1996. She wrote a few non-fiction books, but the point of that was really for extra money. She soon became interested in really writing books. When she wrote her book "Speak," and that's when agents started to call her about how her books were great. Children worte letters to her tell of how great her work was. She now writes books for children and with the theme 'coming of age' meaning going through a state in your life as a young person with either overcoming something you're going through or learning a real lesson through life. She wrote about Twisted and Speak because she wanted to tell others about the things that she has heared other teenagers go through. Now many teens love the book Speak and teachers use this book in book clubs when doing there coming of age unit. 

Figurative Language

Figurative language is words or phrases that describes one thing in terms of another. Figurative language is not meant to be taken literally. Similes, metaphors, personification and hyperboles are a few types of figurative language. 

Personification is the giving of human like ways to non-human things. For example, in the book Speak, the author says "The centro bus coughs and rumbles and spits out two old women." ( 98). Another example is when the main character Melinda, describes the way her friend Heathers', clothes are. "All her clothes wait patiently on hangers..."(33)

Simile is another type of figurative language. A simile is a comparison between two things using like or as. An example is located on page 96 when Melinda tells us The snow covers yesterdays' slush and settles on the rooftops like powdered sugar on a gingerbread town.

A hyperbole is an exaggeration of what something really is. An example of this is located on page 61 when Mr. Freeman the art teacher says "You are on fire, Melinda."

• Why do you think authors use figurative language?
• What type of figurative language do you think is the most interesting and why?

Point Of View

Point of view is the prespective from which a narritive is told. In the book Speak the story is told in first person by the main chracter, Melinda.She uses I and tells the story abut herself. Melinda is telling the story in her point of view.Her overall point of view is that she should just keep to herself.She thinks it's always better to be alone and not talk to anybody. But sonner or later she knows she has to speak. An example of her point of view is on page 50 "... i hang out in my refurbished closet space" instead of going with friends or accutally going to a teacher after school for help ,she would rather be alone. Another example of Melindas point of view is on page 30 of the book."If i ever form my own clan we would be the anti-chearleaders... we will wander underneath the bleachers and commit mild acts of mayhem."Instaed of sitting on the bleachers and chearing there school on she would want to be underneath the bleachers where no-one can see her. I think that Melindas point of view is not good for her because being alone all the time isn't good. Some dissucsion questions I used with my group is:
1 Do you have the same point of view as Melinda why or why not?

2. Do you think being alone is good for Melinda?

3. Do you think this is the real Melinda's point of view.

Characterization

Characterization is methods a writer uses to reveal the personality of characters. In the book Speak characterization is present on page 4. Melinda (the main character of the book) says "I'm an outcast.There's no point in looking for my ex-bestfreinds..."This says allot about her character and how she feels about herself. She feels that shes an outcast and that her ex-bestfriends wouldn't even want to talk to her so whats the point.Since she's an outcast she has no friends and is very quiet.Another part of the book where characterization is present is on page 20 "...She changed her name. Rachelle is reclining her European heritage by hanging out with the forigen exchange students.... she wears black stocking with runs and doesn't shave under her arms." This tells you alot about Rachel's character. She does things just to fit in with a group like change her name and style, and learn a new language.She's not independent.Those are just some of the many places where characterization is present in the book Speak. Some discussion questions i used with my group is
1 How would you feel if you were in Melinda's position, and what would you do?

2 If you were Rachel would you just ignore Melinda or let her explain to you what happened?

3. If you were playing a charcter in the book would you rather be Melinda or Rachel and why?