Independent+Novel+Study

// **S**peak //

media type="custom" key="12114784"

Journal Entry 1, pages 3-40 1) Why did you select this novel? I decided to read Speak because my friend Sena recommended it to me. I was looking through books I could do and Sena pointed it out, saying “that`s a fantastic book, I read it last year.” Sena is a big reader and definitely knows which books are worth reading and which books are not. I value her opinion and picked it out from the library. While I was reading my friend Meghan said she had read the book and enjoyed it as well, so I decided to stick with this book.

4) What's going on as the story begins? The beginning of the story was very confusing to me. The main character, Melinda, has just started a new year of school. None of her friends are willing to talk to her, and she seems to be hated by the whole school. Upon continuing the story a little more, the reader finds out that the main girl called the cops at a party that summer. Everyone thinks of her as annoying because of that. One of the other characters says that her brother was arrested at the party and lost his job because of the arrest. I understand why the people at Melinda`s school don`t like her. I don`t know why she would have phoned the police though, she doesn`t seem like that kind of person.

5) Who is telling the story? How does this person’s perspective effect the way the story is told? The story is told in first person point of view, which is good because it gives me a chance to see into the main charter`s mind. Melinda seems like she has some depression issues, I know a little about depression and it seems like her symptoms are a cause of post traumatic stress. Her depression changes the story and makes it easier to read. If she was just a normal girl, reading this book would be much less interesting. An example of how her point of view changes the story would be on page 9. Melinda has just run into a teacher who she doesn`t want to talk to. That seems like a pretty normal situation to me but rather than just avoid the teacher, she stops and looks at him, thinking “It is easier to not say anything.... Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say.” This point of view is interesting to me because it`s different from mine. The contrast is nice.

Journal Entry 2, pages 40-806) What is the setting of the novel? Is the setting important or could the novel be happening anywhere? Why? The novel is set in the mind of a girl named Melinda. In the story Melinda stays in pretty much the same 4 places, her house, her school, the bus, and her friend Heather’s house. It’s probably around 1999, which was the year that the book was published. The story’s mood is sad, the author makes you feel bad for the main character.

7) What is the initial or first problem faced by the main character? The first problem Melinda (the main character) faces is school. Melinda doesn’t want to go to school because she thinks that everyone will hate her. In the summer leading up to school she called the police at a party and caused lots of kids to get in trouble for under aged drinking. She knew that kids at school would be upset at her for it and so she doesn’t want to go to school.

12) Is the language in the novel difficult or easy? GIve examples and explain. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The language in Speak is easy to understand because the novel is from the point of view of a girl my age. The language in the novel is no more difficult to understand than the language I hear everyday. In one point in the novel the author makes it seem like Melinda doesn’t know big words, by writing //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“It would take a more than a row full of overheated hypothalamuses (hypothalamii?) o distract her from the day’s lesson.” // <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">That was the biggest word I’ve come across so very, I had to look it up. The correct spelling is hypothalamus'sand it‘s a part of the brain.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Journal Entry 3, pages 80-119

2. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What information did you need to know before reading the novel? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Before reading Speak there wasn’t much information I needed to know. The author, Laurie Halse Anderson, explains most of the story as she goes. There are not many complicated parts of the story and not a lot of skill is needed to read it. The book requires a reader who can actually read, and occasionally google big words. One thing that is expected is that the reader knows a fair amount of common knowledge. For example, the names of a couple of artists are mentioned throughout the novel, like Picasso. Picasso’s name comes up quite a bit in this last section of the book because Melinda is trying to draw a tree in Picasso’s famous style.

3. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What has happened before the novel began? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Before the beginning of Speak the main character, Melinda or “Mel”, has had a terrible summer. The first half of Mel’s summer included many normal and not so terrible things like seeing friends and going to parties. However, half way through summer, at a party with her friends, Melinda was raped. She was drunk and didn’t know what to do. Mel started to freak out and then she phoned the police. When the police got to the party they started arresting people for under-aged drinking and possession of drugs. Someone had noticed Melinda phoning the police and told everyone about her being a rat. Reading this part of the book was very explanatory of why everyone at school hated her.

13. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To what age group is the novel aimed? Support your answer with evidence. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This novel is aimed at people around the age of the main character. Melinda is fourteen and just beginning high school. On the back of the book there is a little sticker that says ages 10 and up. I do not agree with this little sticker. I don’t think a ten year old would be able to understand some of the issues and most of the humor in this Novel. When I was ten I wouldn’t have understood about half of this book. One part is about the cheer leaders coming up with the school cheer “We are the hornets, the horny horny hornets.” I didn’t even know what horny meant when I was ten. The sticker on the book should say the book is for 12 and up. Two years my not seem like a huge difference, but it is.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Journal Entry 4, pages 120-150

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">8. How does the author get you to read on or hold your interest? The author gives you very little information to start with, and for shadows almost every important event. For example, in the beginning, you don’t know that Melinda has been raped, but it’s for shadowed by Melinda saying “Every time I close my eyes, I see IT in my mind.” And later she says “IT has a girlfriend, IT was holding hands with her today. I wonder if IT will treat her the same way..” I couldn’t really tell what that was for shadowing until I read further, so lines like that really held my interest.

11. Comment on the style of the novel. Is it easy or hard to follow the events? I found the events in Speak easy to follow because of the author’s style of writing. The way she wrote the novel was pretty much the way most teenage girls think. She wrote as if every problem was then end of the world. Teenage girls are super dramatic about practically nothing. We think that every little thing that goes wrong has a deeper meaning of us being doomed to fail in life. But because getting raped is actually a huge deal, readers who aren’t fourteen year old girls won’t get mad at Melinda for being a drama queen.

13. To what age group is the novel aimed? Support your answer with evidence. The novel was clearly written for teenagers, probably 12-16 year olds. The words used in the novel are ones that a young, intelligent, teenager would use. The way Melinda thinks is that although something awful has happened, little things also make her freak out. Melinda’s character is fourteen or fifteen, and she makes the same decisions that I make, and lots of other girls my age would make. Melinda goes to the party even though her parents said she wasn’t aloud. She flirts with the older guys even though they’re into her for all the wrong reasons. Melinda is bff with the popular people even though she doesn’t like them. Melinda is just like girls my age.

Journal Entry 5, pages 150-197 (end)

Focus Assiengment - Characterization ​Melinda is a really pretty girl, she has brown hair, brown eyes, and brown eyebrows. She’s pale and thin and has big ears. Melinda is a fourteen year old girl who tends to make bad decisions. She got raped, and afterwards, instead of telling people, she kept it to herself. She was super depressed all the time and it sounds like she would be a terrible person to be around. I wouldn’t want Melinda to be my friend because shes mean to the only friend that she has. Her friend was only trying to help her out, but Melinda wasn’t being helpful back. In the beginning, Melinda only talks about how much her life sucks. Through out the rest of the time Melinda is constantly complaining and is a huge downer. At the very end of the novel, Melinda finally puts her life back together and cheers up.

<span style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">18 Is there a message or main theme emerging in the book? How is it shown? <span style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The main message in this book is to be open and honest with other people. This novel demonstrates the importance of telling other people about your problems. It demonstrates it by showing the very worst thing that could happen. Melinda doesn’t tell anyone she was raped and because of that her secret destroys her. <span style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">19 How are the major and minor conflicts solved? <span style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The major conflict was Melinda’s life being terrible because everyone hated her. It was solved because the girl’s field hockey team found the guy who raped Melinda trying to kill her. The team relised that the guy was dangerous and that Melinda had a good reson to have called the police at the party. <span style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">20 What is the climax of the novel? <span style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The climax of Speak occurs when Melinda is confronted by the rapist for the second time. Melinda has a little closet she likes to go to where she can read. No one ever bothers her when she goes there, until one day near the end of the year. The guy who raped Melinda comes into the closet and threatens to kill her. Melinda ends up smashing a mirror and using a shard of glass to cut the man’s throat and stop him from hurting her.