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?

Structure

 The structure of the book SPEAK is in a journal type book from Melinda's point of view.

There is little dialogue and lots of characterization. Each "chapter" is about one specific thing. For example, on pg 91, the chapter is called DARK ART. That chapter is all about the depression that her Art teacher is going through. I think that the structure of this book is like that to show how a girl with problems feels and what she is doing to help herself. 

Why do YOU think that the author wrote the book the way it is written?

Does it make you wanna read on??

Conflict

A conflict is the main problem of the story. The conflict of Speak is that Melinda gets raped by Andy Evans at a end of summer party and she calls the cops. From that day on, everybody hates her. Melinda is often hiding in her closet. She is afraid to speak up and tell everybody that she was calling the cops only to protect herself. On pg 184, she finally tells her ex-best friend about what have happened that day. This conflict is known as an internal conflict. When she got raped, she stopped talking. All of her words would not come out even when she wanted them to. She finally does Speak when Andy Evans tries to rape her again. 

How would you reslove Melinda's conflict??

Theme

 The theme of the book SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson is depression and rape. Melinda, the main character of the book is depressed through out the whole school year. On pg 135, rape comes into view as Melinda has a flashback of the horrible experience at a end of summer party.What we can learn about this theme is that you shouldn't keep it to yourself if somebody hurt you in that way because it may make you depressed, change the type of person you are completely and make your entire life different. 

Plot

PLOT~  The story begins with a girl named Meilnda. Everybody doesnt talk to her and she no longer has friends. She seems shy and doesnt speak to anyone even her parents.

 

Raising Action~  On pg 133, Melinda has a flashback of getting raped by Andy Evans. On pg 184, Melinda's ex-bestfriend is going out with him so she tells Rachel that Andy raped her. Of course Rachel doesnt belive her and calls her a liar. On pg 190,  during the prom, Rachel dumps Andy and now he knows why she dumped him.

 

CLIMAX~  ON pg 191, as Melinda was going to her hiding place which was a old closet that was out of order, Andy Evans followed her. He quickly locked the door and started hitting her. Melinda took a broken piece of glass and raised it by Andys's neck. She squeezed untill a drop of blood came out. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and there was Nicole with her lacrosse team witht their sticks held up high.

 

Falling Action~ It is the end of the school year and Melinda has been improving a lot in schoolwork. Everybody in school knew what Andy Evans did to her.

 

Resolution~ After her accident with Andy Evans, Rachel left a note for her at her house. On the last page, she decided to tell Mr.Freedmen about her "adventures."
 

Questions~ How do you think Melinda felt like after Andy beat her up and the whole school knows about it?

 Will she regain her friends back the next year??

Voice

Voice is a writers' distinctive use of language in a piece. Voice can be more determinded by diction(the word choices of the writer) and tone(the writers' attitude toward a subject). Here in the text, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, we see that this story is being told by a fourteen year old girl named Melinda, who is just entering high school with an internal conflict. You can see that the voice in the story is of a teen, for page 6 she states, My english teacher has no face, she has stringy hair that droops on her shoulders... I call her hairwomen. Only a teen would make such a name for an adult. Another example is located on page 15 when she says My room belongs to an alien. It is a postcard of who i was in fifth grade. You can also see that she is dealing with a conflict. Examples of this is located on page 3 when she tells us As we leave the last stop, i am the only person sitting alone. Then on page 8 I see a few friends-people i used to think were my friends-but they look away. This conflict is internal. She will not talk to anyone about her problem, or why her friends don't like her anymore or even tell her friends why they're acting immature and should listen to the truth. You can find parts of her not talking when she's being spoken to and she will not talk to tell her parents or adults why. On page 113 she has a meeting with the principal and her parents because she had been cutting school. They sit there in the office, they want her to speak. Her mother blows up "Why won't you say anything?" "For the love of God, open your mouth!" "This is childish, Melinda." "Say something." "You are only hurting yourself by refusing to cooperate." "I don't know why she's doing this to us."  It goes on and on, and yet she sits there not talking. She later says, in her mind, I have no friends. I have nothing. I say nothing. I am nothing.

• What do you think the main difference is between a teenagers' voice and an adults' voice?
• Why do you think Melinda doesn't Speak when she is suppose to? How do you think that would affect her later on?

Diction

Diction is the writers' choice of words. It is a stylic element that helps convey the voice and tone of the book. This literary element is present in all books. What makes this different is how the author uses this device. This story is being told by a fourteen year old girl who has just entered high school, so the words aren't going to be fancy unless she was some kind of scholar. Since she is not, the word choices are really informal. She uses words such as clan, teeny, rumors, and nice (42-43.) There are some parts of the story when she does use formal words. Such words are destination and conundrum(a vocabulary word she had), located on page 98, and authorities and evaluates, located on pages 102-103. 

• Why do you think the author mixes some formal words with writing that is overall informal?
• How do you think the word choices the author made affects the overall voice of the novel?