Need help i need the plot in speak by laurie henderson?

Question: Need help i need the plot in speak by laurie henderson!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Speak by Laurie Anderson (not Henderson)
Plot: Melinda Sordino, a freshman at Merryweather High, has begun the year by being a social outcast!. She won't speak and spends hours alone or working on her art project!. The reason why she is in this predicament is because she was raped at a summer party!. She called the police, which broke up the party, but she did not report her rape!. The narrative revolves around Melinda's refusal to speak and the torture that is going on inside her head until she finally decides to confess what has happened!.!.!.more Plot: Melinda Sordino, a freshman at Merryweather High, has begun the year by being a social outcast!. She won't speak and spends hours alone or working on her art project!. The reason why she is in this predicament is because she was raped at a summer party!. She called the police, which broke up the party, but she did not report her rape!. The narrative revolves around Melinda's refusal to speak and the torture that is going on inside her head until she finally decides to confess what has happened to her in order to stop it from happening to another person!.

Evaluation: This novel sucked me in and I read it in one afternoon!. I truly felt sympathy for Melinda and her situation!. Her parents weren't around to listen to her and they seemed unlikely to ask her any real intimate questions about her life!. Her friends abandoned her simply because she called the police and ruined a party, which was "uncool!." The only person that is friends with Melinda is Heather, but that's because she's new in the area and doesn't know anybody!.

Heather was absolutely obnoxious!. She didn't care about Melinda or anybody else for that matter!. She wanted to fit in and didn't care that Melinda was clearly having some sort of nervous breakdown!. She abandons Melinda as if she were some sort toy without any feelings!. I loved it when Melinda ditched her, especially when Heather needed help with prom decorations!.

The art really helped Melinda come to terms with her rape!. The turkey bone sculpture was down right creepy, but at the same time it showed her art teacher and Ivy that something deep and troublesome was beneath the surface of Melinda's art!. They don't force her to say anything, but I think that's when Ivy begins to feel sympathetic towards her former friend!. Another turning point in the book is when Melinda finds out that Rachel is dating Andy Evans, the boy that raped Melinda!. Even though she knows that Rachel will probably get mad at her, she confesses to Rachel that Andy raped her!. It's the first time that she admits it to anyone even though she knows that Rachel may not believe her and get angry, but it's a risk that she's willing to take because she doesn't want Rachel to get raped as well!.

The torture that Melinda goes through in her head is what drives the novel and the reader gets to see the perspective of the victim on a very scary level!. Melinda retreats into an abandoned school closet, she doesn't shower and starts failing her classes!. All of her happiness has been taken away from her and she feels like she can trust no one with her horrible secret!. It's the loneliness that Melinda goes through that really affected me while I was reading the novel!. I wanted her to reach out to someone, but I could also see that she wasn't ready to come to terms with the rape and she had no idea how people would react to her confession!.

Despite the darkness of the narrative, there are moments where the reader can see that Melinda's life will change for the better once she allows people to get to know her and the painful secret!. There's even potential for her to form a relationship with a kind and smart boy, David Petrakis!. Even Melinda begins to see the light at the end of the tunnel when she says (about the rape), "And I'm not going to let it kill me!. I can grow!." She decides that she's not going to let this tragedy rule the rest of her life!.
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