The “Speak” novel takes place in Syracuse, New York, a city with severe winters, that creates the atmosphere of coldness, brittleness and fragility throughout the most parts of the story. Melinda was raped in summer just before the new school year begins. Betrayed by summer and hating the cold winter, Melinda hides all in her mind throughout the various seasons of her first high school year. She is waiting for thawing out her “cold and silent” heart and growing like the trees when the spring comes.
One of the settings is Melinda’s home. Melinda resides with her parents in the suburb of the city. Her room is pink and girly and full of the types of things that a normal teenager who may have. Also, she watches the same kind of TV that other people may have. There still may be silence that exists between her relationship with her parents. They seem more concerned their lives and Melinda’s grade at school. …show more content…
Melinda struggles to confront the fact that classmates who keep their distances and “IT” Andy who raped her at the summer party. The memory of rape has a negative impact which causes her to stay silence. She thinks that she has experienced something that no one else has ever experienced and that makes her feel totally alone. Meanwhile, she finds it difficult to focus on daily schoolwork, so she routinely skips class. However, Melinda meets new found friend David, and art teacher Mr. Freeman help her to gain confidence to admit to herself what happened and move into her new life.
Heather, Melinda’s new friend “packing at least five grand worth of orthodontia”, usually does her best to advance socially by ingratiating herself with different cliques. Thus, Melinda is just right there and available to be her first good friend. They usually stress each other. However, she decides to stop their friendship because Melinda is not socially