Speak

Speak Summary | Plot Summary

Melinda Sordino is starting high school with a terrible secret and without any friends. At an end of summer party, Melinda was raped by a senior. Dazed and drunk, she called the police but left before they arrived. Now everyone thinks she called the police to break up the party. Everyone is mad at her, including her group of good friends from middle school. Melinda has told no one, not even her parents. She carries the burden of this alone, confused and inwardly tortured. Once a happy girl, she is now depressed, withdrawn and hardly ever speaks. She doesn't pay attention to how she's dressed and she bites her lips and nails until they bleed. Her grades are terrible. Her parents think she's going through some awful phase. Only Melinda's art teacher, Mr. Freeman, recognizes a talented, creative, yet troubled girl.

In art class, everyone is given an assignment to work on for the entire year. Mr. Freeman assigns Melinda a tree. Throughout the book, her efforts to create the right tree bring strong symbolism to Melinda's own need to heal and grow.

Melinda's distress is greatly increased by the fact that the senior who raped her also goes to her high school. He enjoys leering at her and making suggestive remarks and threatening movements. To herself, she calls him IT or Andy Beast.

Of course, high school is difficult even for kids who are not troubled. Melinda uses her quirky, observant humor to deal with some situations and to nickname cliques, students and most of her teachers: Mr. Neck, Hairwoman, Principal Principal.

One new girl, Heather, adopts Melinda as her friend but soon becomes caught up with one of the most popular cliques. They encourage her to drop Melinda and she does, coming back only when she needs Melinda's artistic ability.

Melinda's lab partner, David Petrakis, slowly becomes a friend and a potential love interest, but Melinda is too wounded and vulnerable to accept his invitation to a party.

As the year progresses and Andy keeps approaching her, Melinda's mental and emotional state gets worse. Her busy parents can't understand why she rarely talks, why she's failing so many courses, cutting school and has no friends. They try tough love, which only pushes Melinda further away. Still, there are moments of tenderness with her parents and the feeling that her relationship with them was once a happy one.

When spring comes, Melinda becomes interested in planting flowers and cleaning up the neglected yard and trees around her house. The new growth stirs something in her, a bit of hope and feeling of possibility.

Heather approaches her, seeming to be a friend again, but she only wants to use Melinda's artistic talent. For once, Melinda actually says no. This simple but important act starts to awaken her own power. She begins talking a little with Ivy, one of her old friends, who's in the art class. She also writes on a bathroom stall saying that Andy Evans should be avoided. Days later, she feels like flying after she sees all the additional negative comments about him that have been written under hers in the stall.

When Melinda finds out that her former best friend is dating Andy Evans and going to the senior prom with him, her feelings of care and protection come forward. Finally, she overcomes the terrible rejection from her friend and tells her what happened on the night of the summer party. Rachel is horrified that such a thing happened to Melinda, but when Melinda names her attacker, Rachel calls her a liar. At the prom, Rachel confronts Andy when he becomes aggressive with her and she accuses him of raping Melinda. Rachel breaks up with him in a very public way.

After school, Andy follows her and confronts her about speaking to Rachel. At first, Melinda cannot speak. He advances on her, obviously determined to rape her again. Finally, Melinda finds her voice. She screams "No!" and continues screaming. She fights him and breaks a mirror so she can hold a broken shard to his throat. That stops him just before the lacrosse team comes to the rescue.

On the last day of school, Melinda completes her tree. It's not a traditional tree. This one shows some wounds and a low dead branch, but it's also a strong tree with plenty of new, healthy growth. Mr. Freeman gives her an A+. Melinda is, at last, ready to speak.