Melinda is passing through a lot of problems.  Not only that she has conflict with the people around her but she also has inner conflict.  Her character changes greatly from the beginning of the book to the end of the book.  She comes from scared of talking to anyone and also scared of society to finally speaking and saying what really happened.  Even after she told everyone what happened, she was still not relieved.  It took some stress and conflict away but it did not take out the fact that she got raped.  She will always remember when she got raped because it is a nightmare to her.  After all, I respect Melinda Sordino for being a strong person and character for still keeping her head up high and living even after she got raped.  Even when life was hard for her and she had no friends, she still tried to make the best out of it and kept on going to school instead of doing drugs or other bad things.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLUIi2UeYBI

It is good that Melinda Sordino did not commit suicide and kept on trying to make the best out of what was happening.  She was depressed but did not commit suicide even when she had no friends.

                                                              Protagonist? Antagonist?

               In the story, suspense keeps on building up.  Andy Evans is being treated as the protagonist while Melinda Sordino is being treated as the antagonist because no one knows what had happened at the party.  Andy Evans raped Melinda, so she called the cops and the cops had to close down the party.  Since Melinda was still in shock since she had just gotten raped, she was not able to “speak” and say what happened.  She was then hated and Andy Evans got out of the picture.  So Melinda stayed as the “antagonist” to everyone until the end of the story when she finally spoke to say what really happened.  At last, Melinda became the protagonist and everyone knew that Andy Evans was the antagonist and hated one.  Speak is a book to read!!!

Speak is a very special book.  At first, the title contradicts itself but at the end of the story, you see how the title reflects on the narrator, Melinda Sordino.  After reading the book, you can realize how bad it is to keep problems to yourself without expressing them because you do not only build a conflict with the people around you but you build conflict with yourself.  Keeping things bottled up is not good for your well being because it ends up giving you more problems then you would have then if you faced them.

            I chose this image because it really relates to my book.  It symbolizes the inner conflict that Melinda Sordino had.  I truly recommend this book to whomever that likes to read dramatic and suspenseful stories. 

         Studies show that more than 250,000 cases of “male-female rape or attempted rapes were recorded by police annually.”  In Haiti, a stranger raped a young girl named Mathilda one night as she attended a party. Her case was completely different than Melinda Sordino’s case because Mathilda decided to speak to the authorities as soon as she was raped. She had the courage to tell her friends as well as the cops what had happened to her that night and she identified the rapist. Three months later, they caught the rapist. His name was Mike Abahad and he became known as the biggest rapist in town.

Video of my book!!! URL

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbhrNgetKEw

 

      Recently I started reading this book called Speak by Lauri Halse Anderson published in 1999.  It is a very interesting book, as it tells us the story of a girl named Melinda Sordino, the main character, who gets raped at a party. Her life is over. After she gets rapped, she called the cops and cannot speak on the phone.  She wants to say something but the words cannot get out of her throat. So the cops come and shut down the party. Eventually, when everyone finds out that she was the one who called the police, they start hating on her.  She then becomes everyone's enemy. No one knows why she called the cops since she has this fear inside of her that cannot let her speak.  Throughout the whole book, she has this fear against herself and the people around her. She stays by herself everyday throughout the whole day since no one wants to be her friend. At the end of the book, she finally finds the courage and strength to finally speak. Everyone found out what had happened at the party and Andy Evans, the rapist, became the person that everyone started to hate. Everyone forgave Melinda for what they did to her and started to give her comfort. She finally felt better since she spoke and did not let the anger stay inside of her.

 

      I started reading this book because my sister recommended it to me. She was talking about this book all day and night. Therefore, I thought it would not kill me to try reading it. This book is the best so far. It has a lot of wonderful morals that can help people in life. Staying silent should never be an option because the anger stays inside of you and builds up. At last, I truly recommend everyone to read this book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.