Notes to Narratives
READ AND EXPLORE
Adolescent Book; Speak
About:
1999 text by Laurie Halse Anderson.
Speak is a National Book Award Finalist (1999), an ALA Best Book for Young Adults (2000), a Printz Honor Book (2000), and a two time New York Times best seller.
Overview:
Speak, a young adult novel by Laurie Halse Anderson, tells the story of Melinda Sordino, a girl entering high school whose depression and social isolation are the result of a traumatic experience. Her suffering makes her incapable of telling her friends, family, and the reader exactly what happened.
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2gdDDpSGvk
Reader Reactions:
Intro Activity: Draw a Tree!
Noteworthy Events:
-First day of school
-Seeing her rapist at school and with Rachel
-Telling Rachel the truth, speaking out
Symolism:
-Old janitors’ closet & art class = sanctuary
-Rejecting Heather
-The Tree
-Melinda's Bedroom
Themes!
As we address each theme take note of which themes and/or quotes you can relate to!
Silencing
-“It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say” (9).
Invisibility:
-“I hear Dad’s Jeep in the driveway...By the time Dad unlocks the door, everything looks the way he wants it, and I have vanished” (15).
Mental health
Students need safe spaces:
-“SANCTUARY Art follows lunch, like dream follows nightmare” (9).
Trauma:
-“I have worked so hard to forget every second of that stupid party, and here I am in the middle of a hostile crowd that hates me for what I had to do. I can’t tell them what really happened. I can’t even look at that part of myself” (28).
Female experience
-"No janitor has chilled in this closet for a very long time. They have a new lounge and supply room by the loading dock. All the girls avoid it because of the way they stare and whistle softly when we walk by” (26).
Home life
-"My family has a good system. We communicate with notes on the kitchen counter. I write when I need school supplies...They write what time they’ll be home from work and if I should thaw anything. What else is there to say?” (14).
Peers/social life/clichés
-“We fall into clans: Jocks, Country Clubbers, Idiot Savants, Cheerleaders, Human Waste…And I don’t have anyone to sit with. I am Outcast” (4).
Need for relationships/advocacy
-“I need a new friend. I need a friend, period. Not a true friend, nothing close...Just a pseudo-friend, disposable friend. Friend as accessory. Just so I don’t feel and look so stupid” (22).
-“Her mother meets us at the door. She wants to hear all about our day, how long I’ve lived in town, and asks little sideways questions about my parents...I don’t mind. I think it’s nice that she cares” (22).
Body self-concept
-"Gym should be illegal. It is humiliating. My gym locker is closest to the door, which means I have to change my clothes in the bathroom stall...She doesn’t mind changing her clothes in public...Must be a jock thing. If you’re that strong, you don’t care if people make comments about your boobs or rear end” (18).
- “Two muddy-circle eyes under black-dash eyebrows, piggy-nose nostrils, and a chewed-up horror of a mouth...I can’t stop biting my lips. It looks like my mouth belongs to someone else, someone I don’t even know.” (17)
Mistrust of school/adults
-“THE FIRST TEN LIES THEY TELL YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL 1. We are here to help you…7. Guidance counselors are always available to listen…10. These will be the years you look back on fondly” (5-6).
Search for personal identity and a role in the world
-“we all ended up with new rooms...My room was stuck in the middle, a bit stolen from everyone else. The only things that were really mine were my stuffed-rabbit collection from when I was a little kid and my canopy bed...I don’t know what I want it to look like anyway” (16).
The need for a safe space
-“This closet is abandoned. It has no purpose, no name. It is the perfect place for me.” (26)
-“I don’t want to hang out in my little hidy-hole any more...I head for my closet after school. I want to take the poster of Maya Angelou home, and I’d like to keep some of my tree pictures and my turkey-bone sculpture. The rest of the stuff can stay, as long as it doesn’t have my name on it. Who knows, some other kids may need a safe place to run to next year.”
What's In It For Educators?
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Be aware that many students are in need of caring and positivity, even though they may not reach out for it
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You never know what a student might be going through
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Educators are central figures in the lives of students
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Teachers serve as a link to resources for students
“Advocates or advisors are not counselors, but they can identify behavioral changes in students that need to be brought to the attention of counselors, administrators, teachers, parents, and others who can provide appropriate support” (TWB, 17).
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Educators can use class activities as a means for students to cope
Example: Melinda's Tree
“My tree is definitely breathing; little shallow breaths like it just shot up through the ground this morning. This one is not perfectly symmetrical. The bark is rough. I try to make it look as if initials had been carved in it a long time ago. One of the lower branches is sick. If this tree really lives someplace, that branch better drop soon, so it doesn’t kill the whole thing. Roots knob out of the ground and the crown reaches for the sun, tall and healthy. The new growth is the best part.” (196)
Potential Class Activitiy: "Post secret"
"GUYS TO STAY AWAY FROM
Andy Evans
He's a creep.
He's a bastard.
Stay away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He should be locked up.
He thinks he's all that.
Call the cops." (185).
CENSORSHIP
