Teaching Speak

Speak is a strong novel, written in an odd way, that details the struggles of a teen who was raped prior to high school, and is shunned by her friends and peers alike for calling the cops at a party after her rape (no one knows why she called the cops). I thought the writing in this book was especially well done. All short stints of paragraph that seem to coincide with Melinda's inability to speak - she can relate small instances, but can't focus long enough to write in narrative form (paragraphs forming pages forming chapters). I'm not sure if Anderson did this on purpose, but I thought the writing complemented the subject matter beautifully!

While I know the subject matter is difficult (no one wants to read about rape, especially of a teenager/child!), I feel as though it is incredibly important to teach it in schools. It sends some very important messages to students about the importance of speaking up in order to heal themselves, since Melinda's ability to stand up for herself in the end saves her and starts her on the road to recovery. I also think the message that one can heal through art or writing (the tree in art class follows her through her stages of recovery, and the writing on the bathroom wall about Andy creates a community that makes her feel more empowered) is so important to kids who have trouble talking to adults about their issues (whether teachers or parents).

Going back to our discussion last week about the literary significance of this book, I think it is another instance where there is not much to teach as far as literary devices, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth teaching or doesn't belong in the classroom. This book may be easier to teach alongside something more traditional than Boy Meets Boy, and I think parents would have less of a problem with a teacher sending them home with this book. Rape is a controversial subject, to be sure, but there are, I would hope, few parents who would find this too controversial to be taught, unlike (unfortunately) the overall feeling toward homosexual novels like Boy Meets Boy, which is sad but true.