Speak Essay

In the story Speak the main character Melinda is just a freshman trying not to mess up her "freshman reputation" but she feels it’s been too late. The book describes Melinda's life in and out of school. There are many symbols in the book Speak that show how she has felt she's already messed up.

One thing that I feel the novel speak uses as a symbol is mirrors. In the beginning of the book Melinda was stressed out and went to her room and just sat there and cried. As she was lying on her bed she looked up and saw her reflection in the mirror on her closet door. For some reason she got up and put the mirror into her closet so she wouldn't need to look at herself any longer. Melinda also went into the senior’s area of the high school which is an area where the freshman would never go, but at that point Melinda didn't care who are what came in her way. As she was on her "adventure" in the senior area during a assembly for the school, she found a old janitors closet and decided to make it her own. For example it would be an area where she would be able to go where no one would be able to find her or see her cry because once again she knew no one would enter that area. After exploring through the old closest she noticed that there was a cracked mirror and she told herself that the mirror would have to go right away. After her second time visiting the janitor’s closet she had put a poster over the mirror that was cracked.
Another example in Speak of Melinda’s life outside of school is that her family uses little notes to talk to each other and tell each other what’s going on. In the story Melinda doesn’t really make a big deal that her mom or dad have left another note, it’s just like a daily thing. She does say it’s just the way they have communicated and that she is used to it. I feel that the notes symobize

Obviously in the novel Melinda is ashamed of herself and isn't able to look in the mirror. There are many people in this world just like Melinda from Speak. There are different ways people will react to them being ashamed of themselves. For example being suicidal and trying to purposely hurt themselves. It is a very serious issue in this world that has been going on for ages. Melinda is ashamed because she had crashed a party and everyone at her school had ratted on her and brought her down for it. Since the first day of school she has felt like everyone was giving dirty looks and stares at her. I'm pretty sure if that was happening to yourself you would feel the same as Melinda and soon the people staring at you would rub on you and soon yourself would be ashamed of your looks and who you are. I feel everyone can learn something from the Novel speak and maybe even relate to it, just remember next time how you react to something that someone else has done or something you have done because you never know how the other person or even you will react to it.