American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War known as the American War of Independence, was an 18th-century war between Great Britain and its Thirteen Colonies which declared independence as the United States of America. After 1765, growing philosophical and political differences strained the relationship between Great Britain and its colonies. Patriot protests against taxation without representation followed the Stamp Act and escalated into boycotts, which culminated in 1773 with the Sons of Liberty destroying a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor. Britain responded by closing Boston Harbor and passing a series of punitive measures against Massachusetts Bay Colony. Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, they established a shadow government which wrested control of the countryside from the Crown. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, establishing committees and conventions that seized power. British attempts to disarm the Massachusetts militia in Concord led to open combat on April 19, 1775.
Militia forces besieged Boston, forcing a British evacuation in March 1776, Congress appointed George Washington to command the Continental Army. Concurrently, the Americans failed decisively in an attempt to invade Quebec and raise insurrection against the British. On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted for independence, issuing its declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe launched a British counter-offensive, capturing New York City and leaving American morale at a low ebb. However, victories at Trenton and Princeton restored American confidence. In 1777, the British launched an invasion from Quebec under John Burgoyne, intending to isolate the New England Colonies. Instead of assisting this effort, Howe took his army on a separate campaign against Philadelphia, Burgoyne was decisively defeated at Saratoga in October 1777. Burgoyne's defeat had drastic consequences. France formally allied with the Americans and entered the war in 1778, Spain joined the war the following year as an ally of France but not as an ally of the United States.
In 1780, the Kingdom of Mysore attacked the British in India, tensions between Great Britain and the Netherlands erupted into open war. In North America, the British mounted a "Southern strategy" led by Charles Cornwallis which hinged upon a Loyalist uprising, but too few came forward. Cornwallis Cowpens, he retreated to Yorktown, intending an evacuation, but a decisive French naval victory deprived him of an escape. A Franco-American army led by the Comte de Rochambeau and Washington besieged Cornwallis' army and, with no sign of relief, he surrendered in October 1781. Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tories in Parliament, the surrender gave them the upper hand. In early 1782, Parliament voted to end all offensive operations in America, but the war continued overseas. Britain scored a major victory over the French navy. On September 3, 1783, the belligerent parties signed the Treaty of Paris in which Great Britain agreed to recognize the sovereignty of the United States and formally end the war.
French involvement had proven decisive. Spain failed in its primary aim of recovering Gibraltar; the Dutch were compelled to cede territory to Great Britain. In India, the war against Mysore and its allies concluded in 1784 without any territorial changes. Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765 to pay for British military troops stationed in the American colonies after the French and Indian War. Parliament had passed legislation to regulate trade, but the Stamp Act introduced a new principle of a direct internal tax. Americans began to question the extent of the British Parliament's power in America, the colonial legislatures argued that they had exclusive right to impose taxes within their jurisdictions. Colonists condemned the tax because their rights as Englishmen protected them from being taxed by a Parliament in which they had no elected representatives. Parliament argued that the colonies were "represented virtually", an idea, criticized throughout the Empire. Parliament did repeal the act in 1766, but it affirmed its right to pass laws that were binding on the colonies.
From 1767, Parliament began passing legislation to raise revenue for the salaries of civil officials, ensuring their loyalty while inadvertently increasing resentment among the colonists, opposition soon became widespread. Enforcing the acts proved difficult; the seizure of the sloop Liberty in 1768 on suspicions of smuggling triggered a riot. In response, British troops occupied Boston, Parliament threatened to extradite colonists to face trial in England. Tensions rose after the murder of Christopher Seider by a customs official in 1770 and escalated into outrage after British troops fired on civilians in the Boston Massacre. In 1772, colonists in Rhode Island burned a customs schooner. Parliament repealed all taxes except the one on tea, passing the Tea Act in 1773, attempting to force colonists to buy East India Company tea on which the Townshend duties were paid, thus implicitly agreeing to Parliamentary supremacy; the landing of the tea was resisted in all colonies, but the governor of Massachusetts permitted British tea ships to remain in Boston Harbor, so the Sons of Liberty destroyed the tea chests in what became known as the "Boston Tea Party".
Parliament passed punitive legislation. It closed Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for and revoked the Massachusetts Charter, taking upon themselves the right to directly appoint the Massachusetts Governor's Council. Additionally, t
Wintergirls
Wintergirls is a fiction novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. It tells the story of Lia Overbrook, who suffers from anorexia and self harm, she struggles to fight her mental illness while balancing everything else in her life. Months after a fall out with her best friend Cassie, Lia receives news that she has died from bulimia. Lia's fight for her life becomes more difficult. Melvin Burgess of The Guardian says, "The true nature of anorexia is made painfully clear. Lia starves herself, she cuts herself not to let the pain -- and the dirt -- out. The dirt in this case is, of course, herself; as with the plotting, this fractured and utterly convincing interior monologue is intercut with the rather bored face she presents to the world around her. And yet, there is the feeling that if somehow you could only reach in and talk to this girl, you could save her life. It's an exhausting novel to read: brilliant, full of drama, love and, like all the best books of this kind, hope, it would be rare to find a novel in mainstream adult fiction prepared to pull out the dramatic stops this far, difficult to imagine one in recent years, prepared to be so bold stylistically.
It's a book. It may not be an original piece, yet it pulls them off with more skill and effect than anything I have read." The Washington Post called the book "both painful to read and riveting". The New York Times said that "We recognize Lia, but it's sometimes hard to relate to her." 18-year-old Lia Overbrook has just found out. Cassie had called her 33 times the night of her death, she was found in a hotel room, killed by her illness: bulimia. Lia, who has a history of anorexia, falls into a downward spiral of calorie counting. Trying to hide her illness from her family, she worsens and recovery seems impossible, her relationship with her step-mother, Jennifer, is complicated, but Jennifer's eight-year-old daughter, Lia's step sister, Emma, is one thing that keeps Lia happy. She has been dealing with this eating disorder for quite some time and none of the help she received has made much of a difference. Lia finds it hard to get close to her father and step-mother because they forced her into the hospital in the past.
Soon, Cassie's ghost starts haunting Lia, making her feel guilty for not picking up the phone that night and not being there for her ex-best friend the night she died. Lia believes; as Lia's self-harm gets worse, Cassie's haunting becomes more aggressive. Lia goes to the motel room where Cassie died and takes a handful of sleeping pills, trying to block out the voices and get some rest. Since her weight is so low, Lia wakes up in the hospital realizing that she wants to live. Wintergirls was nominated for many state awards, making it as a New York Times bestseller and ALA best book for young adults. In 2009, the novel received the Kirkus Reviews as best YA book while in 2010 it made the YALSA list as well as receiving recognition from Chicago tribune as one of the top ten influential books of the decade. Wintergirls has received positive reviews from critics; the Guardian states "It's an exhausting novel to read: brilliant, full of drama and like all the best books of this kind, hope." Commonsensemedia.com rated the novel five stars, saying that the novel's writing style is innovative and that Lia's reference to fairy tale images makes it appealing to female readers.
Some critics have been concerned that Wintergirls could serve as a "trigger" novel, which encourages eating disorders. Jezebel.com inquires that "read without supervision or discussion Wintergirls could indeed be triggering. But if read as part of a conversation...perhaps it could make a teen's world a little less dark."
Young adult fiction
Young adult fiction is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is targeted to teenagers half of YA readers are adults; the subject matter and genres of YA correlate with the experience of the protagonist. The genres available in YA include most of those found in adult fiction. Common themes related to YA include: friendship, first love and identity. Stories that focus on the specific challenges of youth are sometimes referred to as problem novels or coming-of-age novels. Young adult fiction was developed to soften the transition between children's novels and adult literature; the history of young adult literature is tied to the history of how childhood and young adulthood has been perceived. One early writer to recognize young adults as a distinct group was Sarah Trimmer, who, in 1802, described "young adulthood" as lasting from ages 14 to 21. In her children's literature periodical, The Guardian of Education, Trimmer introduced the terms "Books for Children" and "Books for Young Persons", establishing terms of reference for young adult literature that still remains in use.
Nineteenth century literature presents several early works, that appealed to young readers, though not written for them, including The Swiss Family Robinson, Walter Scott's Waverley, Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, Tom Brown's Schooldays, Dickens' Great Expectations, Alice in Wonderland, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner. In the 1950s, two influential adult novels, The Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies, which were not marketed to adolescents, still attracted the attention of the adolescent demographic; the modern classification of young-adult fiction originated during the 1950s and 1960s after the publication of S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders; the novel features a truer, darker side of adolescent life, not represented in works of fiction of the time, was the first novel published marketed for young adults as Hinton was one when she wrote it.
Written during high-school and published when Hinton was only 17, The Outsiders lacked the nostalgic tone common in books about adolescents written by adults. The Outsiders remains one of the best-selling young adult novels of all time; the 1960s became the era "when the'under 30' generation became a subject of popular concern, research on adolescence began to emerge. It was the decade when literature for adolescents could be said to have come into its own"; this increased the new idea of adolescent authors. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, what has come to be known as the "fab five" were published: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, an autobiography of the early years of American poet Maya Angelou; the works of Angelou and Plath were not written for young readers. As publishers began to focus on the emerging adolescent market and libraries began creating young adult sections distinct from children's literature and novels written for adults; the 1970s to the mid-1980s have been described as the golden age of young-adult fiction, when challenging novels began speaking directly to the interests of the identified adolescent market.
In the 1980s, young adult literature began pushing the envelope in terms of the subject matter, considered appropriate for their audience: Books dealing with topics such as rape, parental death, murder, deemed taboo, saw significant critical and commercial success. A flip-side of this trend was a strong revived interest in the romance novel, including young adult romance. With an increase in number of teenagers the genre "matured and came into its own, with the better written, more serious, more varied young adult books published during the last two decades"; the first novel in J. K. Rowling's seven-book Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997; the series was praised for its complexity and maturity, attracted a wide adult audience. While not technically YA, its success led many to see Harry Potter and its author, J. K. Rowling, as responsible for a resurgence of young adult literature, re-established the pre-eminent role of speculative fiction in the field, a trend further solidified by The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.
The end of the decade saw a number of awards appear such as the Michael L. Printz Award and Alex Awards, designed to recognize excellence in writing for young adult audiences; the category of young adult fiction continues to expand into other media and genres: graphic novels/manga, light novels, mystery fiction, romance novels, subcategories such as cyberpunk, techno-thrillers, contemporary Christian fiction. Many young adult novels feature coming-of-age stories; these feature adolescents beginning to transform into adults, working through personal problems, learning to take responsibility for their actions. YA serves many literary purposes, it provides a pleasurable reading experience for young people, emphasizing real life experiences and
OCLC
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Incorporated d/b/a OCLC is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world's information and reducing information costs". It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services. OCLC maintains the Dewey Decimal Classification system. OCLC began in 1967, as the Ohio College Library Center, through a collaboration of university presidents, vice presidents, library directors who wanted to create a cooperative computerized network for libraries in the state of Ohio; the group first met on July 5, 1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization, hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, to design the shared cataloging system.
Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The plan was to merge the catalogs of Ohio libraries electronically through a computer network and database to streamline operations, control costs, increase efficiency in library management, bringing libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the world's information in order to best serve researchers and scholars; the first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26, 1971. This was the first online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data. Between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the governance structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States.
As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with "networks", organizations that provided training and marketing services. By 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on the OCLC Members Council. During 2008, OCLC commissioned two studies to look at distribution channels. In early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic and full-text information to anyone. OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from private libraries worldwide; the Open WorldCat program, launched in late 2003, exposed a subset of WorldCat records to Web users via popular Internet search and bookselling sites.
In October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. WikiD was phased out; the Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988. A browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013; until August 2009, when it was sold to Backstage Library Works, OCLC owned a preservation microfilm and digitization operation called the OCLC Preservation Service Center, with its principal office in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users; this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. Starting in 1971, OCLC produced catalog cards for members alongside its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, such as CONTENTdm for managing digital collections.
It offers the bibliographic discovery system WorldCat Discovery, which allows for library patrons to use a single search interface to access an institution's catalog, database subscriptions and more. OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications; these publications, including journal articles, reports and presentations, are available through the organization's website. OCLC Publications – Research articles from various journals including Code4Lib Journal, OCLC Research, Reference & User Services Quarterly, College & Research Libraries News, Art Libraries Journal, National Education Association Newsletter; the most recent publications are displayed first, all archived resources, starting in 1970, are available. Membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding. Newsletters – Current and archived newsletters for the library and archive community.
Presentations – Presentations from both guest speakers and OCLC research from conferences and other events. The presentations are organized into five categories: Conference presentations, Dewey presentations, Distinguished Seminar Series, Guest presentations, Research staff
Melinda Sordino
Melinda "Mel" Sordino is the main character and narrator of Laurie Halse Anderson's 1999 novel Speak. Her last name, Sordino, is an Italian word that can be translated as "deaf." The character's ordeals were based on Anderson's own experiences. One summer, prior to starting ninth grade at Merryweather High School, Melinda "Mel" Sordino goes to a house party with three other friends and is raped by a senior, Andy Evans; this abuse drastically changes her life and social structure. She finds solace in her art class and teacher, Mr. Freeman, where she has a year long assignment of drawing a tree which plays a major role in her life. Throughout the year she creates a hidden room for herself in an old janitor's closet, which acts as her safe haven, is the setting for the climactic ending of the novel. Throughout the year, several minor events led up to her coming forward about her rape; these events include her parents giving her art supplies showing that they care, her only companion and friend Heather leaving her and saying Melinda needs therapy, seeing things written about Andy on the bathroom wall and cutting school the next day.
For the majority of the novel, she refuses to admit to herself that she was raped, a fact that makes it hard for Melinda to heal and continue with her life. Melinda attempts to confide in her ex-best friend Rachel, dating Andy and doesn't believe her. Rachel realizes the truth and avoids Andy for fear of getting raped by him. Andy angrily confronts her about talking to Rachel and attempts to rape her again, Melinda fights back and break her silence, which sets her free from her isolation and terror, they are found by the school's lacrosse team and, due to Rachel has been telling people around the school about what happened to Melinda at the house party, their altercation removes any doubt of it. Therefore, Andy would face the consequences of his crimes against Melinda. In Anderson's 2002 novel Catalyst, Melinda Sordino appears for a few pages; when a fellow student, Kate Malone, has a mental breakdown, she counsels and helps her through the rough patch. It is stated that Andy Evans does not go to prison.
Thus, his life becomes onerous owing to having a criminal history as a rapist, his daily activities after high school such as attending school, probation appointments, or counseling are restricted by the law and monitored by probation officers. In the 10th anniversary edition of Speak, Anderson explained that she was considering making a sequel, but could not think of a basic plot, citing that sequels are meant to build on a previous film's popularity, using Jaws: The Revenge as an example. Melinda is the first person narrator of Speak, she is observant and notices every small detail. Her abuse has made her cynical, though she is secretive about it; the cliques and social groups at her school disgust her, a fact which she makes well known through her narration. At times her voice seems to be just a stream of consciousness, having no start nor end; the sentence structure is short and choppy, representing how Melinda is feeling at the moment. Melinda's physical appearance is described, except in the context of what clothing she is wearing and how her lips are chapped and scabbed over.
It is mentioned that she is a size ten while trying on jeans at the store her mother works at. It is mentioned she has black eyebrows and "muddy" brown eyes, her mother buys her clothing, which she dislikes, her lips are always bloody and dry from the fact that she bites them when she sees Andy Evans, or when something bad happens to her. It is mentioned in "Winter Break" that she is not pretty, which shows that Melinda is just an average looking girl. In the chapter "Hall of Mirrors", it is told, it mentions she has auburn hair in one of the chapters. The character is portrayed by Kristen Stewart in the 2004 film adaptation
Speak (film)
Speak is a 2004 American independent coming-of-age teen drama film based on the award-winning 1999 novel of the same name by Laurie Halse Anderson. It stars Kristen Stewart as Melinda Sordino, a high school freshman who stops talking after a senior student rapes her; the film is wrought with her sardonic humor and blunt honesty. It was broadcast on Showtime and Lifetime in 2005 after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004. Fourteen-year-old Melinda Sordino begins her freshman year in high school and struggles on the first day, she doesn't have any friends to hang out with, appears awkward and uncomfortable when speaking to others. Throughout the day, she is made fun of by several students called a "squealer". A series of flashbacks reveal that she called the police to a house party during the previous summer, her actual reason for calling 9-1-1 was that she'd been raped by a senior student at the party, Andy Evans, but her trauma prevented her from reporting the rape over the telephone or when the police arrived.
When her parents see her report card, they prompt Melinda to see a teacher nicknamed Mr. Neck, who tells her to write an essay on any history topic. After refusing to read her paper aloud to her class, she is sent to the principal's office. Melinda is nice to a new student named Heather Billings, who claims to be Melinda's "friend", but Heather soon abandons Melinda when the chance for social advancement arises; the only other student with whom Melinda has a positive experience is her lab partner, Dave Petrakis, who has managed to avoid affiliating himself with a clique. The restoration of Melinda's confidence progresses at a painfully slow rate, with some help from Dave and her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, her former best friend, Rachel Bruin, starts dating Andy, Melinda fears that Rachel will suffer the same fate as her. Melinda meets Rachel at the library and tells her the truth about what happened at the party by writing it on paper. Rachel first refuses to believe, thinking that Melinda is lying out of jealousy, but comes to realize the truth by confronting Andy.
Rachel avoids Andy for fear of getting raped by him and tells other people of what happened at the party. Exposed as a rapist, Andy retaliates against Melinda. Melinda struggles and throws a bottle of turpentine at his face, irritating his eyes, overpowers him after holding a shard of broken mirror to his neck, threatening to kill him, they are found by Melinda and Rachel's friend Nicole, along with other girls from her lacrosse team, help Melinda and trap Andy to prevent further attack. The altercation removes any doubt about what happened at the house party, the girls who restrain him are outraged by it and tempted to beat him with their sticks. Mr. Neck sees Melinda walking away from the scene and asks what was going on, but Melinda doesn't respond. On the way back from the hospital after being treated for her injuries, Melinda rolls down the car window and breathes in deeply, she finds the strength to tell her mother, who suspects something awful, the truth about what happened at the party.
Kristen Stewart as Melinda Sordino Michael Angarano as David Petrakis Robert John Burke as Mr. Neck Hallee Hirsh as Rachel Bruin Eric Lively as Andy Evans Elizabeth Perkins as Joyce Sordino D. B. Sweeney as Jack Sordino Steve Zahn as Mr. Freeman Allison Siko as Heather Billings Leslie Lyles as Hairwoman Tyanna Rolley as Nicole Cameo: Laurie Halse Anderson, the novel's author, as a lunch lady Producer and screenwriter Annie Young Frisbie read the novel and made a bid to get the rights to a film version. Production took place in Columbus, Ohio because a production partner, Matthew Myers, was relocating there with his wife. Film production took only 21 days in August 2003. Flooding during an heavy summer rain caused filming to be temporarily postponed and during that time author Laurie Halse Anderson visited the set with her daughter. Anderson cameos in the film as the lunch lady; the school scenes for the movie were shot at Eastmoor Academy on the east side of Columbus. Although New York Times reviewer Neil Genzlinger praised the work of Stewart and Zahn, he concluded that, the cast was populated with "dismaying caricature, so much so that it costs the movie some credibility" and that the film "comes nowhere near capturing the wise, subtle tone of the book."
Speak on IMDb Speak at Rotten Tomatoes
Speak (Anderson novel)
Speak, published in 1999, is a young adult novel by Laurie Halse Anderson that tells the story of high school freshman Melinda Sordino. After accidentally busting an end of summer party due to an unnamed incident, Melinda is ostracized by her peers because she will not say why she called the police. Unable to verbalize what happened, Melinda nearly stops speaking altogether, expressing her voice through the art she produces for Mr. Freeman's class; this expression helps Melinda acknowledge what happened, face her problems, recreate her identity. Speak is considered trauma novel. Melinda's story is written in a diary format, consisting of a nonlinear plot and jumpy narrative that mimics the trauma she experienced. Additionally, Anderson employs intertextual symbolism in the narrative, incorporating fairy tale imagery, such as Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, author Maya Angelou, to further represent Melinda's trauma; the novel was based on Anderson's personal experience of having been raped as a teenager and the trauma she faced.
Since its publication, the novel has won several awards and has been translated into sixteen languages. However, the book has faced censorship for its mature content. In 2004, Jessica Sharzer directed the film adaptation. A graphic novel edition was published in 2019. A 20th anniversary version of the novel featuring additional content was released in 2019 alongside the author's memoir, Shout; the summer before her freshman year of high school, Melinda Sordino meets senior Andy Evans at a high school party. During the party, Andy rapes Melinda. In shock, Melinda calls 9-1-1, but runs home; the police come and break up the party, some people are arrested. Melinda does not tell anyone what happened to her, nobody asks, she starts her freshman year at Merryweather High School as an outcast as she is shunned by her peers for calling the police. She remains sinks into depression. Melinda is befriended by Heather, a girl, new to the community. However, once Heather realizes that Melinda is depressed and an outcast, she ditches Melinda to sit with the "Marthas," a group of girls who seem charitable and outgoing, but are selfish and cruel.
As Melinda's depression deepens, she begins to skip school, withdrawing from her distant parents and other authority figures, who see her silence as means of getting "attention". She befriends her lab partner, David Petrakis, who encourages her to speak up for herself. Near the end of the book, Melinda's ex-best friend Rachel, dating Andy, breaks up with him on prom night after Melinda tells her what happened at the party. Realizing only one other person could've told Rachel, Andy attacks Melinda in the abandoned janitor's closet, Melinda's "sanctuary". Melinda is able to get help in time; when word spreads about what happened and the truth about that night is revealed, the students no longer treat Melinda as an outcast but as a hero instead. Melinda tells her story to her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, she regains her voice. Speak is written for high school students. Labeled a problem novel, it centers on a character; the rape troubles Melinda as she struggles with wanting to repress the memory of the event, while desiring to speak about it.
Knox College English Professor Barbara Tannert-Smith calls Speak a trauma narrative, as the novel allows readers to identify with Melinda's struggles. Hofstra University Writing Studies and Rhetoric Professor Lisa DeTora considers Speak a coming-of-age novel, citing Melinda's "quest to claim a voice and identity". Booklist calls Speak an empowerment novel. According to author Chris McGee, Melinda is more than a victim. Melinda gains power from being silent as much as speaking. McGee considers Speak a confessional narrative. Author and Florida State University Professor Don Latham sees Speak as a "coming-out" story, he claims that Melinda uses both a literal and metaphorical closet to conceal and to cope with having been raped. One theme of Speak is finding one's voice. Another theme in the novel is identity; the story can be viewed as speaking out against violence and victimization. Melinda feels guilty though she was a victim of sexual assault. Yet, by seeing other victims, like Rachel, Melinda is able to speak.
Some see Speak as a story of recovery. According to Latham, writing/narrating her story has a therapeutic effect on Melinda, allowing her to "recreate" herself. One interpretation of Melinda's behavior is that it is symptomatic of post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of her rape. Like other trauma survivors, Melinda's desire to both deny and proclaim what happened produces symptoms that both attract and deflect attention. Don Latham and Lisa DeTora both define Melinda's PTSD within the context of Judith Herman's three categories of classic PTSD symptoms: "hyperarousal", "intrusion", "constriction". Melinda displays hyperarousal in her wariness of potential danger. Melinda will not go over to David's house after the basketball game, because she is afraid of what might happen. Intrusion is depicted in the rape's disruption of Melinda's consciousness, she tries to forget the event. Constriction is illustrated in Melinda's withdrawal from society. Latham views Melinda's slow recovery as queer in its diversion from the normal treatment of trauma.
Melinda's recovery comes without professional help. Further, DeTora notes the connection between trauma and "the unspeakable". Speak is a diary-like narrative. Written in
