1.) Family Communication: How does communication breakdown in Melinda’s family? In your answer, discuss what could each person do to improve it, and if you were a parent, how you would communicate in your family.
In the novel, Speak, Melinda doesn’t really talk with her family. You could tell that they don’t really talk because in the book it says that they leave notes to each other. “We communicate with notes on the kitchen counter.” The communication in Melinda’s family is that bad that she can’t even tell her own parents about what happened to her that night in the party. Because the little communication they have Melinda can’t really trust her own family. Most of the time Melinda is alone at home because her parents have to go to work and it kind of seems that they care a little about her. I think that if the parents asked Melinda like how was your school, what did you do today, and little questions like that it would show that they really care for her. That would make Melinda trust them and she would finally be able to tell them about what happened that night in the party. If Melinda gets to trust her parents then she will finally tell them what happened in the party and her grades will improve. If I was Melinda’s mother I would make sure I would have a good communication with my family and make sure everything is ok.
2.) How does your room express who you are?
An example that is from the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is about how Heather's room explains her." Heather's room is finished and ready for viewing. It does not look like a fifth graders, or a ninth-grader's room. It looks like a commercial for vacuum cleaners, all fresh paint and vacuum-cleaner lines in the carpet. The lilac walls have a few artsy prints on them. Her bookcase has glass doors. She has a television and a phone, and her homework is neatly laid out on her desk. Her closet is opened just a tad. I open it farther with my foot. All her clothes wait patiently on hangers, organized by type-skirts together, pants hanging by their cuffs, her sweaters stacked in plastic bags on shelves. The room screams Heather." My room is bright and colorful, even though I share with my two brothers I have it the way I want it. My room expresses how I am. It expresses a happy, dark, person and what characters I like. It’s dark because I have brown curtains which I never open and like I have a blanket with my favorite character “eyore” and I’m always hearing music with my sisters in my room.
3.) Are we sometimes different people on the outside than we are on the inside? In your answer discuss why this is true or not.
I believe that everyone is different from the inside than what they are on the outside. Sometimes people try to act like if they are someone else just to try to appear better. They also do that so they could get accepted into things that don’t really go with them. Many people are afraid for others to actually know who they really are in the inside because they think they are not going to be liked or accepted for who they are. Sometimes the way others act to be accepted makes others not want to accept them. Why pretend to be something or someone who you really are not don’t try to impress others just be who you truly are and don’t worry about not getting accepted for whom you really are. You just got to trust your self for ones and everything will be alright.
