LAURA ,DÉBORA Y ELENA
Speak the
graphic novel

Steps to follow:
Themes
References to artist
Characters
Compare briefly American
schools with your school
Message of the story and Melinda´s
transformation
Another end for the story
Summary of the story

SUMMARY OF THE
BOOK
The book talks about a teenager called Melinda who
is starting high school. She doesn't feel good with her
partners and feels humiliated in some situations.
Over time, Heather becomes her friend she was her
classmate, although they were very different
persons. Apart of that Melinda describes her classes
and thoughts. Because of the discomfort of the girl,
she often missed class. Melinda kept the secret of
what had happened at a summer party, which was
the main reason she broke up with her ex best friend
Rachel. Andy Evans, a former aggressor, attacked her
again in the school bathroom, to which Melinda
defended herself by stabbing her a glass around the
neck and screaming.

THEMES OF THE BOOK
We apreciate the isolation of losing her friends is not the main
cause of Melinda's sense of isolation, however. Melinda was
raped at the party by Andy.
She doesn,t have a good relationship with her family
and she feels lonely without friends
The book deals with the subject of sexual abuse by Andy
towards Melinda at that summer party and later at the
end of the book
This is linked to the trauma of the previous situation
We can appreciate the bullying since the classmates do
not want to be with her and make her feel unappreciated
We see the depression of the protagonist since she is
always sad, she wants to be alone, there have even been
points in the story in which she has hurt herself, as is the
example in the clip

REFERENCE TO ARTISTS
PICASSO
In art class, Mr. Freeman gives Melinda
a book about Picasso to help her
imagination.
"paralyzed" Picasso's art
inspires her and she begins to draw.
MAYA ANGELOU
.In the book, Speak by Laurie Halse
Anderson, there are strong
connections to the author Maya
Angelou. Melinda is able to identify
with Maya's character through her own
experience of being traumatized and
abused, too. Maya's character is also a
person who experienced difficulty in
speaking after being raped at a young
age. Melinda Mason may be the
protagonist of Speak
NATHANIEL
HAWTHORNE
the obvious differences in books Speak
and The Scarlet Letter, they also have
an abundance of things in
common.This includes themes like
guiltiness and blame, as well as the
books’ likeness of plots and
conflicts.This shows that even though
two things could be created in
completely different eras, there’s
always going to be a universal
similarity that ties them together.

CHARACTERS
Melinda Sordino: thirteen-year-old high school teenager and
protagonist of the novel. Cut off from her friends and family, she
must find her place in the world without any support.
David Petrakis: Melinda's lab partner. Unlike Melinda, David has
parents who support and defend him.
Mrs Freeman: Friendly teacher who always tries to help his students.

Melinda's parents, who are largely absent from the novel. They are
well-meaning but busy parents who don't know how to help Melinda
Andy Evans:Popular boy who raped Melinda at a party in the summer
Rachel: Melinda's ex best friend who was with her the night
of the attack.

Compare briefly American
schools with your school
American schools are very different from a Spanish school, social positions
are much more marked and people are more obsessed with being able to
move up socially, which brings more to students, social life is very different
but that does not mean that in a school Spanish, the situation that Melinda
experienced can also happen, although it is much less common. The
school itself is also different, the use of the lockers is very frequent and the
students have more freedom and free time, they eat there and they also
have hours in the afternoon, as well as practicing more team sports (which
influences social positions). In addition, in an American school you can go
to the institute in the summer while in a Spanish school that is not allowed.

MESSAGE OF THE STORY
Mirror
What it represents is that when Melinda
looks at herself, she doesn't like what
she sees at all. It represents the reality
that your internal struggles have
changed.
Tree
The trees are representations of
Melibea's emotions. To face the painful
memories he paints the ugly, scarred
and nearly dead trees.

THE OVERALL MESSAGE OF THE STORY
AND MELINDA'S TRANSFORMATIONS:
Melinda begins the book as a shy and quiet girl after having a traumatic experience in the summer.
Melinda's situation throughout the book worsens to the point of not being able to look at herself
in the mirror, every time she becomes sadder and duller, she is more distrustful and terrified of
being alone with a boy, but finally Melinda is getting stronger, the Art helps him a lot until he
finally manages to be free
The book deals with issues such as violence, or being a sexual victim, after she was raped by
Andy, the depression or social anxiety that Melinda suffers after the assault, treats eating
disorders like Heather suffers from fitting in or Melinda's body dysmorphia, In addition to the
bullying due to the abuse that Melinda suffers from her classmates

ANOTHER END OF THE STORY
In the meeting between Melinda y Andy in the little room, while Melinda threatens andy, he accidentally
trips and falls on top of the knife. When the rest of the students together with the police finally get in,
they find Andy dead on the floor, next to him is melinda with the knife in her hand, the police quickly
arrest her. Everyone in high school thinks she's a murderer, except for rachel who believes her version of
the accident. Scared, Rachel goes to the art teacher, to whom she tells the problem, and asks for help to
prove her innocence. Together they look for a way to get her out of her jail. Finally Mr Freeman discovers
that there were some old security cameras that recorded what happened. They both hand them over to
the police and manage to free Melinda. After a few months, Melinda finally manages to be happy and
recover her life from before Andy.

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