If you have a major problem do you try to get help? Or, are you the type of person who will keep all of your feelings inside? Melinda, in Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, was the quiet type. She faces a problem that many people couldn't even come close to understanding.
Melinda is basically a normal teenage girl. She tries to live a regular, everyday life like all of the other girls her age. In high school, finding the right crowd to be a part of is always hard. Over the summer, Melinda's friends change and she has a difficult time fitting back in with them.
While at an "End of the Summer" party, Melinda gets drunk and meets a boy. His name is Andy Evan. Knowing that Melinda would be pretty much helpless, Andy (she now calls him IT) raped her. After this event, instead of trying to comfort and help her through this hard time, Melinda's friends began to ignore her. They were angry and upset with her actions. Finally, she gave up. Melinda became very quiet and did not want to discuss what had happened with anyone. She felt that she could handle the problem on her own.
A theme that fits this book well is treat everyone the way you want to be treated. Bullying has become a serious problem around the world. Everyone faces situations like this at one point in their life. If everyone would try their hardest to treat people with respect, the world would be a much more peaceful place.
I highly recommend this book to all teens. Speak has a great lesson that everyone needs to learn at one time or another. More than anyone, teenagers need to realize that bullying other people is not okay. Bullying is hurtful and wrong.
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