Depression In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

Imagine a flightless bird, injured and alone in the forest, watching their flock fly away without them. This is what Melinda’s, the main character in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, life is like. Melinda was raped the summer before freshman year and no one knew, she then panicked and called the cops causing her peers to believe she ruined the party, and because of this Melinda isolated herself and became stuck in a void of depression, which caused her to be incredibly quiet and melancholy. Her friends and family do not understand what it is that is debilitating her and therefore do not do anything to help her, assuming that she cannot be helped out of her flightlessness. They all fly away from her due to the fact they see her as something that holds them back and assume it is her fault for not
The way her peers and family act toward her verify the idea that the people in her life view her depression as an inconvenience, perceive her as negative and despondent, as well as viewing her as strange and taboo.All of these assumptions are involved with the stigma around depression within society and play a heavy role in the story as they influence how Melinda copes throughout the story. They are also prevalent in reality as becausemany people do not feel comfortable to ask for help with their depression because of these assumptions people have about people with depression, making life more difficult and troublesome for those who do suffer from depression. At the end of the story some people in Melinda’s life begin to sympathize with her and help by not buying into the stigma that seems to control her life. A few from her flock fly down to help her, as they should have from the very start. If only society would care to fly down to help the people very people who need it instead of flying away maybe things could