Everywhere you look, no one can find themselves. You look in the mirror; can you find who you really are? Is anything holding you back from the past? Something happened in the past, but you can’t shake it off. You school, your classmates, and your life cannot find its true identity. Laura Halse Anderson in her book "Speak" illustrates how identity can make a person.
Over the summer Melinda life turned around for the worst, she lost who she was. Andie Evens, the pervert took advantage of Melinda at a party. She called the cops in dismay and all of the kids at the party that were drinking turned against her. Even her best friend, Rachel and others turned their noses up at her. They told her, "I Hate you" on the first day of school. This wasn’t a boost of confidence, she has lost who she is; identity. Her room is a perfect symbol for this; it is a mixture of other people and 5th grade. If you can’t find yourself, how do you expect other people to see the real you? When Melinda sees a mirror she sees something she doesn’t like, and turns it away. She isn’t ok with herself, so she gives herself no identity. Her body and mind and trapped in horror dream. Melinda wants to get away from everything and become who she really is again.
Almost all characters including Melinda don’t have an identity. Some of the people she categorizes people on how they look, dress, and who they are with. For example, the Amber Cheerleaders are all snobs. What happened to treat everyone, how you want to be treated? Most of the cheerleaders probably were at the party. They look at Melinda as a freak and a no one. Both don’t fell so great about each other. It seems that almost everything in Speak cannot truly find who they are. Merrywether high school, has changed its name 4 times, and will most likely change again. How could Melinda and everyone else find identity in a school that can't find it?
People all over the world she be comfortable in their own skin. It doesn’t matter what you did in your past, it matters what you can be now. Something to take out of the book is, be yourself at whatever cost. Even if let’s say you called the cops at a party, don’t be afraid to come out and shine.
Some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and the best of it, without knowing what is going to happen next.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
The night with eyes
The night is dark and eerie and no one is in sight. No lights in houses shine; only one street light glosses the sidewalk. A brunch nearby breaks off a tree. Wind is now all around me; it snarls and whispers in my ear. "Walk faster, get out", my mind tells me. Someone is watching me I can feel it. I trip and fall to the cold dead ground. Footsteps come towards me, but no one is there. I get up and run as fast as I can. The trees start to scream in the wind. Again my mind tells me, "Get out". There is a shortcut to my house, I run through the small path in the forest. Still I can feel someone's eyes are watching over me. No stars in the sky gleam down at me. Finally, my house is a few steps away. My body feels dizzy and my legs ache. What is happening to me? My body almost collapses to the ground, but I catch myself in the last second. I make it to the house and scurry though my front yard. A breath of relief comes to me. Too good to last, something as grabbed my ankles. My body plummets towards the front step and I hit my head hard. I can feel blood rushing down my icy cheek. My eyes go pitch black, and my body is completely numb.
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