Identity In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

Speak Essay As Harvey Fierstein, a popular children’s book author once stated; “Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself.” In Laurie Halse Anderson's book Speak, the main character, Melinda, was raped at a high school party in the summer. Now going into high school as a freshman, she has become extremely depressed and both unable and unwilling to speak. She ignores her parents, many of her teachers, friends, and peers in her life until some internal and external factors begin to change her mentality and life for the better. Although there are other factors that impacted Melinda’s identity, I believe the three most important factors are David Petrakis, Mr. Freeman, and Melinda’s inner emotional strength. I believe these three factors are the symbolic strengths given to Melinda that she used to overcome her depression and therefore shape her identity.

An external factor that impacted Melinda's identity is David
Freeman. In the beginning of the school year, Mr. Freeman assigned every student one thing that they would work on for the rest of the year. Melinda, picked a tree. As she drew various trees, she found that her trees seemed to be “unrealistic and un lifelike”. When she asked Mr. Freeman for help, he advised to “Scar it, make it a twisted branch- perfect trees don’t exist. Nothing is perfect. Flaws are interesting. Be the tree” (153). This helped Melinda because it helped her to realize that not everything must be perfect, that some things happen and she cannot always change them. Mr. Freeman also always offers his help and listening ear. Although Melinda refuses his help throughout most of the book, on the last page of the book (pg 198), Mr. Freeman asks Melinda one more time- “‘You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?’” Melinda answered with “‘Let me tell you all about