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What is the main point of Laurie Halse Anderson's novel Speak?

Laurie Halse Anderson's novel Speakis about Melinda Sordino's emotional journey after she has been sexually assaulted at a party. This is Melinda's freshman year of high school, and she is ostracized from the very beginning for calling the police after her assault, resulting in the breakup of the party. She is struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, extreme isolation, and troubles at home. The title of the book relates directly to the main theme of...

Laurie Halse Anderson's novel Speak is about Melinda Sordino's emotional journey after she has been sexually assaulted at a party. This is Melinda's freshman year of high school, and she is ostracized from the very beginning for calling the police after her assault, resulting in the breakup of the party. She is struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, extreme isolation, and troubles at home. The title of the book relates directly to the main theme of the book—Melinda feels she cannot speak to anyone about her assault, so she doesn't speak to anyone at all. 


Melinda struggles to assert herself to her teachers, parents, and fellow students, and this only creates more problems and anxiety for her. If she can't speak up about something little, like how she doesn't really want to teach a guy basketball, how could she speak up about such an earth-shattering experience as rape? Slowly but surely, Melinda comes to make sense of what has happened to her, and grows stronger in speaking up for herself. While books are open to interpretation by any who read them, I think that the main point of the novel is that people have to accept trauma they've experienced in life in order to gain power over it.

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