Dolly's Journal Entry 1

In the first part of the novel "Speak" by the author Laurie Halse Anderson, the social issues are represented by the principal character Melinda because in this book she is considered as an outcast and nobody really likes her or talks to her because she is different than the others. She doesn't really get bullied but everybody ignores her and doesn't really care about her except Heather. But first Melinda doesn’t really like Heather and I think she’s hanging out with her just to not feel like a loner in the corner with any friends. Second, Heather is also hanging out with Melinda just to not be alone till she founds a group that likes her and she isn’t really acting like a real friend towards Melinda and doesn’t stand up for her, I think that later on in the book Heather is probably also going to ignore Melinda because she's joining a group called "The Marthas", who are supposed to help and not judge people but they are already judging Melinda about her lips. Melinda's social issues are kind of the major theme in the book because the book talks about her life and her feelings about being an outcast.  The thing is she feels like an outcast but doesn’t really do something to make it stop and that’s a little why I do not like this book at all. I also do not like this book because it is too depressing and kind of boring and it also makes me think a lot about my past and why people ignores or talk badly about other people when we are almost all the same and sometimes they know nothing about that person. In this novel, Heather has a secret about something that happened to her during a party last summer but the author doesn’t really give us any clues or some kind of answers to our questions and it kind of frustrate me because I really want to know what happened and I think that the author wanted to create some kind of suspense and atmosphere to make the readers enjoy her novel more but obviously it did not work. For the moment I really do not like the book but maybe it will get better latter on in this book or towards the end.

 

Emily's Journal Entry 1

I find that the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson very frustrating at this moment. The main character, Melinda, has just started school and all of her friends have drifted into different social clique, leaving her as an outcast due to an incident that happened at a summer party that involved calling the police. Now everyone hates Melinda because they all got caught. We do not know the details at this moment but all we see is a sad girl that isn't helping her own situation. Melinda does have a new friend that we know of, her name is Heater. She has extremely high energy levels, she is also super emotional and want to get involved in the school clubs, but Melinda is the total opposite, who is very lethargic and would rather just hide in an empty storage closet and mope. I understand that the incident at the party really affected Melinda but one thing I don't quite get why she's so enclosed about her life to her parents when they could help her with her problems, and if she doesn't want to talk to her parents about it, Heather seems like a very empathetic and understanding person to talk to but Melinda is so negative and stubborn that she treats her only friend like a piece of garbage. If she doesn't clean up her act she really will be alone and that could only make things worse for her. Even talking to her art teacher could help her. I can tell that he sees her pain and wants to help her by making her express it through an artistic outlet. I don't know what the author is trying to do at this point but if she's trying to make this some sort of depressing suspense book, it really isn't working.

Daisy's Journal entry #1

For the first part of the novel nothing really intriguing takes place. It opens up with the main character, Melinda, having troubles in high school. No one likes her because of some incident that occurred over the summer, she is depressed and her only friend is Heather, who she doesn't even like. This book has a very negative and aggravating effect on me because it is such a sombre, annoying and depressing piece of literature. There is not a lot of detail about Melinda's past which makes it hard to understand her situation in present day. I find that Melinda is slowly starting to not care more and more about her life in the book, she stops trying to make friends and she begins to fall under the social radar, hiding in closets and limiting herself to one friend. She does not sign up for any school clubs and creates some kind of anti-social bubble around her. This novel also irritates me because Melinda is a girl who doesn't try to fix things that are falling apart and once they are broken she complains. I do not feel bad for her at the moment because she needs to stop being depressed and go out and find some friends. I mean why you would whine about not having friends when you don't even try to make any. It's kind of annoying. Once the author tells us more about Melinda's past I feel like I will be able to have a better understanding of her and more sympathy for her, but now her attitude is really irritating which makes the novel  aggravating. Overall I think this novel will be an interesting read with some plot twists, it has also won a couple of awards so it has to be a good piece of literature. I am excited to continue reading!

Speak - Dolly's Questions - Setting

                 

Questions and Answers

 

 

1. Where does the action take place in the novel? (It take place at Merrywheater High, Heater's house and Melinda's house)
2. When does the story take place? (It take place in the modern days)
3. What are the social conditions in the novel? (She's an outcast, she's lonely and she doesn't really have friends)
4. What's the mood in this novel? (It's depressing and kind of sad but not really)
5. What's the tone in this novel? (It's is sad, lonely and somtimes the tone is anger)
6. Why Melinda is feeling like an outcast in her new school? (She's feeling like an outcast because everybody ignores her, doesn't talk to her and doesn't care about her except heather) 
7. What do you think is going to happen to Melinda's and Heather's friendship later on in the novel? (I think that Heather is going to ignores her like the others does because she found a group that accept her but not Melinda, her "friend")
8. Do think Heather should of done something to help Melinda during the pep rally? (Yes, I think that heather should of done something to help Melinda because they are friends and friends are normally supposed to be there for you when you need them or when something goes wrong)
9. What do you think happened during the party that make Melinda call the cops? (I think that during the party a guy tried to rape her and maybe she was also a little bit drunk and confused so she called the cops)
10. Should Melinda try a little bit harder to have friends and to talk to her old friends again? (Yes, I think that if Melinda really wanted to have friends and to stop being an outcast she would try a bit harder because friends doesn't just come like that or fall from the sky and say "Yo, do you want to be my friend", some does but not all of them and in her case they definitely don't)
11. Do you think that her new English teacher  Mr. Neck is a bit too harsh with her? (Yes, I do think that her new English teacher is a little bit to harsh with her because she didn't do anything or maybe  she did it but she didn't know that she wasn't supposed to do it or not and she's new)
12. Have you ever been an outcast before and why? (Yes, I did once was an outcast because of my last name and my skin color)
13. What class so you they she likes the most and why? (I think that she really likes her art class because it's the only class where she can really be herself, where she can do whatever she wants and whatever she likes, and where the teacher just go with the flow and isn't mean)