Speak (Anderson novel)

Speak, published in 1999, is a young adult novel by Laurie Halse Anderson that tells the story of high school freshman Melinda Sordino.<ref name="Falling Up" /><ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk" /> After Melinda is raped at an end of summer party, she calls the police, who break up the party. Melinda is then ostracized by her peers because she will not say why she called the police.<ref name="Falling Up" /><ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk" /> Unable to verbalize what happened, Melinda nearly stops speaking altogether,<ref name="Falling Up" /> expressing her voice through the art she produces for Mr. Freeman's class.<ref name="Falling Up" /><ref name="Coming of Age">Template:Cite journal</ref> This expression slowly helps Melinda acknowledge what happened, face her problems, and recreate her identity.<ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Melinda's Closet">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Speak is considered a problem novel, or trauma novel.<ref name="Falling Up">Template:Cite journal</ref> Melinda's story is written in a diary format, consisting of a nonlinear plot and jumpy narrative that mimics the trauma she experienced.<ref name="Falling Up" /><ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk" /> Additionally, Anderson employs intertextual symbolism in the narrative, incorporating fairy tale imagery, such as Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and author Maya Angelou, to further represent Melinda's trauma.<ref name="Falling Up" />

The novel was based on Anderson's personal experience of having been raped as a teenager and the trauma she faced.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Since its publication, the novel has won several awards and has been translated into sixteen languages.<ref name="Speaking in Tongues">Template:Cite book</ref> However, the book has faced censorship for its mature content.<ref name="speaking in tongues controversy" /> In 2004, Jessica Sharzer directed the film adaptation, starring Kristen Stewart as Melinda.<ref name="NYT speak film overview">Template:Cite news</ref>

Speak: The Graphic Novel, illustrated by Emily Carroll, was published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux February 6, 2018.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A 20th anniversary version of the novel featuring additional content was released in 2019 alongside the author's memoir, Shout.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Synopsis

The summer before her freshman year of high school, Melinda Sordino meets senior Andy Evans at a high school party, who rapes her while she is drunk. Melinda immediately calls 9-1-1, but her shock renders her unable to speak and she flees to go home. The police arrive and break up the party, and several people are arrested. When word spreads that Melinda called the police, she becomes ostracized by her peers and abandoned by her friends.

Melinda is befriended by Heather, a girl from Ohio who is new to the community. However, once Heather realizes that Melinda is an outcast, she abandons her in favor of the "Marthas," a group of girls who seem charitable and outgoing but are actually selfish and cruel. As Melinda's depression worsens, she begins to skip school, withdrawing from her already distant (and somewhat neglectful) parents and other authority figures, who see her reclusiveness as a cry for attention. She slowly befriends her lab partner, David Petrakis, who encourages her to speak up for herself.

Melinda summons the courage to tell her former best friend Rachel, who has been dating Andy, about what happened at the party. While Rachel initially does not believe Melinda, she realizes that this is the truth on prom night after Andy gropes her. Enraged at Melinda for exposing him, Andy attacks her in an abandoned janitor's closet. Melinda screams and fights back, attracting the attention of fellow students. When word spreads about Andy's assaults against Melinda, the students no longer treat her as an outcast, but rather as a hero. Melinda finally regains her voice and tells her story to her art teacher.

Narrative style

Speak is written for young adults and middle/high school students. Labeled a problem novel, it centers on a character who gains the strength to overcome her trauma.<ref name="Falling Up" /><ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk" /> The rape troubles Melinda as she struggles with wanting to repress the memory of the event, while simultaneously desiring to speak about it.<ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk" /> Knox College English Professor Barbara Tanner-Smith calls Speak a trauma narrative, as the novel allows readers to identify with Melinda's struggles.<ref name="Falling Up" /> Hofstra University Writing Studies and Rhetoric Professor Lisa DeTora considers Speak a coming-of-age novel, citing Melinda's "quest to claim a voice and identity".<ref name="Coming of Age" /> Booklist calls Speak an empowerment novel.<ref name="Booklist Review, Carton">Template:Cite book</ref> According to author Chris McGee, Melinda is more than a victim.<ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk" /> Melinda gains power from being silent as much as speaking.<ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk" /> McGee considers Speak a confessional narrative; adults in Melinda's life constantly demand a "confession" from her.<ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk" /> Similarly, author and Florida State University Professor Don Latham sees Speak as a "coming-out" story.<ref name="Melinda's Closet"/> He claims that Melinda uses both a literal and metaphorical closet to conceal and to cope with having been raped.<ref name=" Melinda's Closet" />

Theme

One theme of Speak is finding one's voice.<ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk" /> Another theme in the novel is identity.<ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> The story can also be viewed as speaking out against violence and victimization.<ref name="M Acts">Template:Cite journal</ref> Melinda feels guilty, even though she was a victim of sexual assault. Yet, by seeing other victims, like Rachel, Melinda is able to speak.<ref name="M Acts" /> Some see Speak as a story of recovery.<ref name="Falling Up" /><ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> According to Latham, writing/narrating her story has a therapeutic effect on Melinda, allowing her to "recreate" herself.<ref name="Melinda's Closet" />

Post traumatic stress disorder

One interpretation of Melinda's behavior is that it is symptomatic of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of her rape.<ref name="Falling Up" /><ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> Like other trauma survivors, Melinda's desire to both deny and proclaim what happened produces symptoms that both attract and deflect attention.<ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> Don Latham and Lisa DeTora both define Melinda's PTSD within the context of Judith Herman's three categories of classic PTSD symptoms: "hyperarousal", "intrusion", and "constriction".<ref name="Coming of Age" /><ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> Melinda displays hyperarousal in her wariness of potential danger.<ref name="Coming of Age" /><ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> Melinda will not go over to David's house after the basketball game, because she is afraid of what might happen.<ref name="Coming of Age" /><ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> Intrusion is depicted in the rape's disruption of Melinda's consciousness.<ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> She tries to forget the event, but the memories keep resurfacing in her mind.<ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> Constriction is illustrated in Melinda's silence and withdrawal from society.<ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> Latham views Melinda's slow recovery as queer in its diversion from the normal treatment of trauma.<ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> Melinda's recovery comes as a result of her own efforts, without professional help.<ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> Further, DeTora notes the connection between trauma and "the unspeakable".<ref name="Coming of Age" />

Point of view

Speak is a first-person, diary-like narrative. Written in the voice of Melinda Sordino, it features lists, subheadings, spaces between paragraphs and script-like dialogue. The fragmented style mimics Melinda's trauma.<ref name="Falling Up" /><ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk" /> The choppy sentences and blank spaces on the pages relate to Melinda's fascination with Cubism.<ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk" /> According to Chris McGee and DeTora, Anderson's writing style allows the reader to see how Melinda struggles with "producing the standard, cohesive narrative" expected in a teen novel.<ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk" /><ref name="Coming of Age" /> Melinda's distracted narrative reiterates the idea that "no one really wants to hear what you have to say".<ref name="Why Won't Melinda Just Talk" /> In her article, "Like Falling Up into a Storybook", Barbara Tannert-Smith says,

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Symbolism and greater meaning

Throughout Speak, Anderson represents Melinda's trauma and recovery symbolically.<ref name="Falling Up" /> Barbara Tannert-Smith refers to Speak as a "postmodern revisionary fairy tale" for its use of fairy tale imagery.<ref name="Falling Up" /> She sees Merryweather High School as the "ideal fairy tale domain", featuring easily categorized characters—a witchy mother, a shape-shifting best friend, a beastly rapist.<ref name="Falling Up" /> Mirrors, traditional fairy tale tools, signify Melinda's struggle with her shattered identity.<ref name="Falling Up" /><ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> After being raped, Melinda does not recognize herself in her reflection. Disgusted by what she sees, Melinda avoids mirrors. According to Don Latham, Melinda's aversion to her reflection illustrates acknowledgement of her fragmented identity.<ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> In fact, the only mirror Melinda can "see herself" in, is the three-way mirror in the dressing room.<ref name="Falling Up" /><ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> Rather than giving the illusion of a unified self, the three-way mirror reflects Melinda's shattered self.<ref name="Falling Up" /><ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> Likewise, Melinda is fascinated by Cubism, because it represents what is beyond the surface.<ref name="Falling Up" /><ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> Melinda uses art to express her voice. Her post-traumatic artwork illustrates her pain.<ref name="Falling Up" /> The trees symbolize Melinda's growth.<ref name="Falling Up" /> The walls of Melinda's closet are covered in her tree sketches, creating a metaphorical forest in which she hides from reliving her trauma.<ref name="Falling Up" /> According to Don Latham, the closets in the story symbolize Melinda's queer coping strategies.<ref name="Melinda's Closet" /> Melinda uses the closet to conceal the truth.<ref name="Melinda's Closet" />

Anderson incorporates precursor texts that parallel Melinda's experience.<ref name="Falling Up" /> In the story, Melinda's English class studies Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, which features similar fairy tale imagery.<ref name="Falling Up" /> Hester Prynne, an outcast protagonist like Melinda, lives in a cottage at the edge of the woods. Hester's cottage parallels Melinda's closet.<ref name="Falling Up" /> For both women, the seclusion of the forest represents a space beyond social demands.<ref name="Falling Up" /> The deciphering of Hawthorne's symbolism mimics the process faced by readers of Melinda's narrative.<ref name="Falling Up" /> Similarly, Anderson connects Melinda's trauma to that of Maya Angelou, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Melinda places a poster of Angelou in her closet. She admires Angelou because her novel was banned by the school board. Melinda and Angelou were both outcasts.<ref name="Falling Up" /> Like Melinda, Angelou was silenced following her childhood rape.<ref name="Melinda's Closet" />

Honors and accolades

Speak is a New York Times Best-Seller.<ref name="nyt bestseller 2001" /><ref name="nyt bestseller 2005" /> The novel received several awards and honors, including the American Library Association's 2000 Michael Printz Honor<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the 2000 Golden Kite Award. It was also selected as a 2000 ALA Best Book for Young Adults.<ref name="golden kite award" /><ref name="ALA best books 2000" /> Speak gained critical acclaim for its portrayal of the trauma caused by rape.<ref name="literature criticism online">Template:Cite journal</ref> Barbara Tannert-Smith, author of "Like Falling Up Into a Storybook: Trauma and Intertextual Repetition in Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak.", claims the story's ability to speak the reader's language brought about its commercial success.<ref name="Falling Up" /> Publishers Weekly says, Speak's "overall gritty realism and Melinda's hard-won metamorphosis will leave readers touched and inspired".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ned Vizzini, for The New York Times, calls it "different", "a grittily realistic portrait of sexual violence in high school."<ref name="angels, demons, blockbusters">Template:Cite news</ref> Author Don Latham calls Speak "painful, smart, and darkly comic".<ref name="Melinda's Closet" />

Awards

Speak has won several awards and honors, including:

• 1999 National Book Award Finalist<ref name="national book award">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• 1999 BCCB Blue Ribbon Book<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• 2000 SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Fiction<ref name="golden kite award">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• 2000 Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year<ref name="horn book fanfare">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
• 2000 ALA Best Books for Young Adults<ref name="ALA best books 2000">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• 2000 Printz Honor Book<ref name="2000 Printz Award">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• 2000 Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults<ref name="2000 Top ten Best Books">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• 2000 Fiction Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers<ref name="2000 Quick Pick">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• 2000 Edgar Allan Poe Best Young Adult Award Finalist<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• 2001 New York Times Paperback Children's Best Seller<ref name="nyt bestseller 2001">Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2005 New York Times Paperback Children's Best Seller<ref name="nyt bestseller 2005">Template:Cite news</ref>

Censorship

Speak's difficult subject matter has led to censorship of the novel.<ref name="speaking in tongues controversy">Template:Cite book</ref> Speak is ranked 60th on the ALA's list of Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books for 2000–2009<ref name="top 100 banned/challenged">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and 25th for 2010–2019.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2020, the book was named the fourth most banned and challenged book in the United States "because it was thought to contain a political viewpoint and it was claimed to be biased against male students, and for the novel's inclusion of rape and profanity."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In September 2010, Wesley Scroggins, a professor at Missouri State University, wrote an article, "Filthy books demeaning to Republic education", in which he claimed that Speak, along with Slaughterhouse-Five and Twenty Boy Summer, should be banned for "exposing children to immorality".<ref name="filthy books">Template:Cite news</ref> Scroggins claimed that Speak should be "classified as soft pornography" and, therefore, removed from high school English curriculum.<ref name="filthy books" /> In its 2010-2011 bibliography, "Books Challenged or Banned", the Newsletter of Intellectual Freedom lists Speak as having been challenged in Missouri schools because of its "soft-pornography" and "glorification of drinking, cursing, and premarital sex."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In the 2006 Platinum Edition of Speak, and on her blog, Laurie Halse Anderson spoke out against censorship. Anderson wrote:

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In her scholarly monograph, Laurie Halse Anderson: Speaking in Tongues, Wendy J. Glenn claims that Speak "has generated more academic response than any other novel Anderson has written."<ref name="Speaking in Tongues pedagogy">Template:Cite book</ref> Despite hesitancy to teach a novel with "mature subject matter," English teachers are implementing Speak in the classroom as a study of literary analysis, as well as tool to teach students about sexual harassment.<ref name="something to speak about">Template:Cite journal</ref> The novel gives students the opportunity to talk about several teen issues, including: school cliques, sex, and parental relationships.<ref name="something to speak about" /> Of teaching Speak in the classroom Jackett says, "We have the opportunity as English teachers to have an enormously positive impact on students' lives. Having the courage to discuss the issues found in Speak is one way to do just that."<ref name="something to speak about" /> By sharing in Melinda's struggles, students may find their own voices and learn to cope with trauma and hardships.<ref name="politicizing young adult lit">Template:Cite journal</ref> According to Janet Alsup, teaching Speak in the classroom, can help students become more critically literate.<ref name="politicizing young adult lit" /> Students may not feel comfortable talking about their own experiences, but they are willing to talk about what happens to Melinda.<ref name="politicizing young adult lit" /> Elaine O'Quinn claims that books like Speak allow students to explore inner dialogue.<ref name="voice and voicelessness">Template:Cite journal</ref> Speak provides an outlet for students to think critically about their world.<ref name="politicizing young adult lit" />

See also

• Rape trauma syndrome

External links

• Laurie Halse Anderson's Blog