Young Adult Literature: The Class (Day 12)

"The 90s and the 00s have been marked with some interesting experiments in form with YA literature, and I like experiments in form."

Spoilers ahead for Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak.

We've hit the era of more contemporary writing! Excellent!

Unlike the problem novels we talked about earlier, Speak is a trauma novel. It's not Melinda versus Andy, it's Melinda vs. PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

We took a look at Speak through a psychological lens. Rather than try to poorly explain what we discussed in class, here's a handout from class!

Click to enlarge.

In Speak, Melinda is suffering from PTSD before we know where the trauma comes from. It creates a psychological portrait of a character.

But if our interpretation is so focused on the trauma and Melinda's psychological portrait...

"In what ways does the novel ask us to care about Melinda, well before we learn the details of what happens in August?"

We got sidetracked talking about Melinda's personality - her sense of humour, her fear (especially in regard to IT), how she's an outcast from in school and with her family.

The use of first person POV was discussed quite frequently; the interior monologue works for a story like this, especially as it leads us with the same path as Melinda. Will she be okay? We don't know until the end.

The present tense is also important to the story: the immediacy makes it a story of reaction, not a retelling, and helps the emphasis on the psychological portrait.

Then we got onto the topic of Andy Evans.

"Rape is not about sex. It's about power."

A heavy debate was had about the portrayal of his character: was Melinda demonizing him? Was it realistic? Was it just bad writing?

The eventual settlement was that no, she wasn't demonizing him -- the portrayal actually was realistic despite her fear. Seeing as rape is about power, and much of what Andy does to Melinda in the book is power-based, to most of us, it seemed like a realistic and logical portrayal.

Her relationship with Andy brought about Melinda's choice to be silent. Why the silence?

Out of shame?
In fear of social ramifications?
Because she feared others identity and behavior?

That is the question for the comments -- why do you think Melinda chose to be silent?