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.
