Final Speak Essay

Speak was just an ordinary book.  Honestly it was just a normal book that I read from cover to cover, through the chapters and took in all of the words in black ink across the pages.  It was fairly short and unordinary from anything else.  It didn’t stand out, nothing bright or spectacular looking. What truly I thought was extraordinary about it was the characters and events scrawled across the pages telling the amazing story of an ordinary girl that did a very powerful thing.   She had this dirty secret that was binding her to it and didn’t want to get help or talk to anyone.  But, against the odds she stood up and wasn’t afraid to speak out.  She told her friend that didn’t have one love or passion in the world but herself and let her down.  Even though that friend left her once again, she didn’t back down.  If no one cared about her life then she was going to do this herself. Then no one could leave her alone in the dark again, but herself. 

Life can be depressing. It is so realistic that it stings because it is what it is.  We can sit in the dark and just complain about how horrible life is.  For a while Melinda just sat in the shadows like that isolating herself from others and not stepping out and getting help.  Eventually she figured out that she can’t always rely on other people all the time for her security.  So she stood up and spoke.  I believe that the theme was to speak out when you are hurting.  Standing up for yourself when everyone fails to meet your needs and secure you so you feel safe in your own little world.  During the whole book I thought that the author was just pretty much telling this depressing story of a lonely, misunderstood girl.  Not only is it about that, but it has a deeper meaning of strength and courage.  Life may be dark, but Melinda stood up against the odds.

“Write about the emotions you fear the most."  Honesty that is true and Melinda had to speak about what she feared most.  Throughout this book the author gives you this pinch of reality that says to you that this is real.  It is realistic and that is frightening.  This ironic book starts out bad then twists and turns into darker, deeper things and you think that nothing could go right.  Then the plot seems to rise up and light shines onto the characters and things seem to be okay in the end.  The author is trying to say that things may be bad but if you do something about it, then it may turn out alright.  If you fear emotions and then your voice comes through and write about them, then it won’t be as frightening.

Fear, strength and reality are the things that the author addresses throughout the story.  The author also wrote other books and they are all the same type as this book. All of them are ironic, truth based and dark.  I guess she doesn’t want us to get caught up in a colorful, happy book that we can escape to.  No, she wants us to say that we understand what the characters are going through or that our life isn’t that bad.  Fear teaches us things and makes us understand the world a little through character’s mind and hear t before we do.

Have you ever felt that something simple was amazing?  I did when I picked up this book.  Honestly I didn’t really want to read it.  Someone said that it was an amazing book and wanted me to read it. Now I understand this.  Speak was a book that really touched me.  The characters seemed to reach out and tell a story so different yet realistic. Melinda had an extremely lonely year and everyone feels alone at least once, or out of place and maybe even unwanted.   Personally I have never had to deal with the situation that she was in.  But, many have and the author is just reflecting on other people’s lives and secrets making up characters just to line the story to make it fit together.  The author weaved this story together making it so complex, yet simple and sweet making the story something I have never read in my entire life.