Name: ____Ms. Drydyk_____
Class Hour: _________
Tracking Author’s Choices in
Speak - Example
Sample Passages that Illustrate
the Author’s Choice
Author’s Choice
What the Author Chose
to Do
(Answer Questions)
AT LEAST THREE!
(Just Write First Words of First
Sentence… Last Words of Last
Sentence & PAGE NUMBER!)
Setting
Where has the author chosen to
situate this story?
What time period has the author
chosen to situate this story in?
Merryweather High School in
Syracuse, New York
“WELCOME TO MERRYWEATHER
HIGH” (3)
1990s - Present
“I’ve lived in Syracuse my whole life
and I hate winter.” (136)
“REAL SPRING” (165)
Point of View
Is the story written in first, second,
or third person point of view?
First Person
“I have entered high school with the
wrong hair, the wrong clothes, and the
wrong attitude.” (4)
“I am Outcast.” (4)
“It wasn’t my fault. He hurt me. It
wasn’t my fault. And I’m not going to
let it kill me. I can grow.” (202)
The Impact of the Author’s Choices on Reader’s
Interpretation
Why the Author Chose to Write it This Way and not
Another Way
This location is most significant because of the weather, which
Melinda Sordino is very tuned in to. Her journey back to life
after being raped is reflected in the seasons. Melinda grows more
and more brittle, fragile, and cold through the long Syracuse
winter. But when spring and summer come, she thaws and
grows, just like a tree.
Other than that, I get the feeling that Speak could be happening
anywhere, and that's probably the point. I suspect that Anderson
wants us to feel like Melinda's experience isn't unique to girls in
one specific area – it could, and does, happen everywhere.
Similarly, exact dates aren't listed, giving it an anytime-feel. It
probably takes place in the late 1990s, since the book was first
published in 1999.
Speak is the story of Melinda Sordino, a high school freshman.
She tells her story in her own words, in the present tense. This
telling seems to be a kind of internal monologue. Melinda
doesn't talk much to others, but she sure hasn't stopped talking to
herself; she does lots and lots of thinking about her problems,
and we get access to all of her thoughts.
We might think of Speak as a glimpse into Melinda's mind as she
figures out how to deal with the fact that she was raped. Seen in
this way, the novel makes a subtle argument for thinking, or
talking to one's self as a means to solve problems. Melinda's
intense reflections on her inner and outer worlds lead her to
certain conclusions. Perhaps most importantly, she concludes
that she has a moral obligation to warn others about her attacker
and that telling the story to others is necessary for her own
healing.
Sample Passages that Illustrate
the Author’s Choice
Author’s Choice
What the Author Chose
to Do
(Answer Questions)
Expansive/Economical Diction
Is the writing tight and efficient, or
elaborate and long-winded?
“I am Outcast.” (4)
Overall, tight and efficient
“I have entered high school with the
wrong hair, the wrong clothes, and the
wrong attitude.” (4)
Tone
What is the narrator’s attitude?
What is the mood of the story?
Does the author seem sarcastic?
Aggressive? Wistful?
Pessimistic? In love?
Philosophically detached?
Hopeful? Ironic? Bitter? (And
so on...)
AT LEAST THREE!
(Just Write First Words of First
Sentence… Last Words of Last
Sentence & PAGE NUMBER!)
Depressed, sardonic,
uncomfortable, uncertain,
fearful, self-deprecating,
angry, self-loathing
Changes to triumph and
inspiration after finding a way
to fix her problem.
“There is no point in looking for my
ex-friends. Our clan, the Plain Janes,
has been splintered and the pieces are
being absorbed by rival factions.” (9)
“I don't want to be cool. I want to grab
her by the neck and shake her and
scream at her to stop treating me like
dirt. She didn't even bother to find out
the truth – what kind of friend is that?”
(10)
“I get out of my bed and take down the
mirror. I put it back in my closet,
facing the wall.” (11)
The Impact of the Author’s Choices on Reader’s
Interpretation / Understanding /
Why the Author Chose to Write it This Way and not
Another Way
Melinda speaks in a manner common to teenagers in the 1990s to
the present. This is characterized by slang, staccato sentences,
and colloquialisms. This allows the reader to see through her
eyes, feel what she feels, and take on a unique perspective of the
world. If it were written as Hawthorne would have written it
(yuck), it would not ring as true as it does.
Melinda’s tone captivates the reader. For many young, outcasted,
struggling teenagers (and just about anyone reall…), sarcasm is a
way to vale one’s true distaste with the state of their life, their
surroundings, what they’ve amounted to, etc. Without this
original tone, it would be hard to understand just how deeply
affected Melinda is.
Also, without the initial sarcasm and self-loathing, the reader
could not rejoice with Melinda as she finds a resolution to the
conflict she has faced and endured. When the tone begins its
climb upward, the reader is lifted and can feel the weight being
lifted from Melinda’s shoulders.
“It wasn’t my fault. He hurt me. It
wasn’t my fault. And I’m not going to
let it kill me. I can grow.” (202)
Chapter Structure
Are chapters very short, or are
they enormous?
What is the function of chapter
titles if they are present?
Chapters are very short
(averaging out at 3 pages each
– 90 chapters in 244 pages)
“OUR TEACHERS ARE THE BEST”
“SANCTUARY”
Chapter titles are easily
remembered (since chapters
are so long) and stand as a
blatant summary / theme for
each chapter
“COLORING OUTSIDE THE LINES”
“A NIGHT TO REMEMBER”
“GROWING PAINS”
Additionally, the book is
divided by “marking period”
or quarter and also follows the
changing of the seasons
The chapter titles provide for easy access into the ideas and
feelings of Melinda. Also, since the chapters are so short, it is
easy to hold the titles in mind from beginning to end. The
shortness of each chapter not only suits the intended audience
(teens), it also captures how little Melinda says (even in her own
mind).
“PREY”
The book also follows the changing of the seasons – fall –
spring. This, coupled with the symbolism of the tree’s journey
through the seasons, adeptly expresses the transformation of
Melinda. This internal structure is highly valuable to the integrity
of the novel.
Sample Passages that Illustrate
the Author’s Choice
Author’s Choice
Use of Images
What types of images did the
author choose to include?
Symbolism
Does the author use any
symbols?
If so, what are they?
If so, what do they represent /
stand for?
What the Author Chose
to Do
(Answer Questions)
AT LEAST THREE!
(Just Write First Words of First
Sentence… Last Words of Last
Sentence & PAGE NUMBER!)
Book Cover:
Tree growing almost from
young woman’s mouth – no
mouth is visible
(See Book Cover)
The tree – growth
“Tree? It's too easy. […] I reach in for
another piece of paper. […] "Ah-ahah," [Mr. Freeman] says. "You just
chose your destiny, you can't change
that…” (12)
Snow, cold, & silence
Closets
Grades
Mirrors / Vision
“"Hawthorne wanted snow to
symbolize cold, that's what I think"
(62)
“"Nothing quieter than snow" (62)
“The tears dissolve the last block of ice
in my throat. I feel the frozen stillness
melt down through the inside of me,
dripping shards of ice that vanish in a
puddle of sunlight on the stained floor.
Words float up.” (89)
“"I don't feel like hiding anymore.”
(81)
“"My contact folds in half under my
eyelid. Tears well in my right eye.” (9)
The Impact of the Author’s Choices on Reader’s
Interpretation / Understanding /
Why the Author Chose to Write it This Way and not
Another Way
This image adroitly suits the seasons changing and tree drawing
within the internal structure of the book. The staring eyes also
seem all at once deserted and removed, terrified, and critical…
wishing to say more, if only the mouth would come into focus.
Trees: Seeds and trees create an extended metaphor. Melinda
learns about them in biology and learns to draw them in art class.
By getting intimate with seeds and trees in art and science,
Melinda comes to see herself as a precious part of nature,
capable of much positive growth.
Snow, cold, & silence: As the weather thaws, so does her heart.
Ice and cold of winter, heat and warmth of summer – these create
an extended metaphor (a metaphor that plays out across the
novel) that symbolizes Melinda's movement from frozen
muteness to fluid speech.
Closets: The closets in Speak have a double meaning. They are
places of contemplation and safety, but also of isolation and
terror. The empty supply closet at school provides Melinda with
a place to reflect on her artwork and her life, take naps, vent her
emotions, and hide from mean people at school. When she feels
that Andy Evans has been exposed as a predator to the student
body, she decides she doesn't need the closet. She thinks,
Grades: Bad grades aren't always a sign that a student has
suffered a trauma. In Melinda's case, it's striking because,
according to Mom and Dad, she used to get good grades. Along
with the host of other negative signs Melinda is giving off, bad
grades is a sign that something is seriously wrong with Melinda.
Unfortunately, adults just seem to give her a hard time about it
and don't pick up on the truth. We do, though. At the end of
every part of the novel (the "marking periods") we learn
Melinda's grades. How well she's doing in school also tells us
how well she's doing internally.
Mirrors / Vision: Aha! The broken glasses, the twisted contact,
the fake eye, the blindness – when you find these in a story you
can expect characters to undergo drastic changes in vision. Often
characters move from unclear to clear vision over the course of
the story. This seems to be true of many of the characters
in Speak, especially Melinda. When she can see clearly, she's
able to make her life clear to the very confused people around
her.