Speak Essay

The novel, Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, describes the trauma that high school student Melinda Sordino faces after being raped at a summer party. During the incident, Melinda called the cops, causing everyone at the party to get in trouble and shun her. Melinda didn’t tell anyone her secret, as she was emotionally damaged and mortified, and she really began to crumble as more and more time passed with her having the secret bottled up. By comparing Melinda’s behaviors and emotions throughout the beginning/middle and end of the novel, it is seen that there is an improvement in the way Melinda feels and acts during the end of the book rather than the beginning because she let out her secret, and people gained their respect for her again. Overall, Speak illustrates how keeping in the wrong secrets can break a person, but setting them free can make a person. 

Towards the beginning/middle of the novel, Melinda is overwhelmed by her memories of being raped, and she develops an immense fear of Andy Evans, the senior who raped her. When the guidance counselors at Melinda’s school, and her parents, notice how Melinda isn’t doing well, they ask her if there is anything wrong, but Melinda shrugs them off, keeps the secret in, and continues to feel vulnerable and sad. As the secret stays put, Melinda’s self-esteem is deteriorating at a rapid pace. “I have no friends. I have nothing. I say nothing. I am nothing.” Here, we are shown just how terrible Melinda is feeling, and how low her self-esteem has dropped. Being raped has had an extreme, negative effect on Melinda’s stability, and not getting the help, love, or support that she needs has had its costs on Melinda, as seen in this line. But, this is because Melinda never tells anyone her secret in the first place, so she put the matters of controlling her thoughts and emotions into her own hands. Additionally, Melinda discusses how she thinks her family perceives her. “I bet they'd be divorced by now if I hadn't been born. I'm sure I was a huge disappointment. I'm not pretty or smart or athletic. I'm just like them- an ordinary drone dressed in secrets and lies. I can't believe we have to keep playacting till I graduate. It's a shame we just can't admit that we have failed at family living, sell the house, split up the money, and get on with our lives. Merry Christmas.” This quote portrays another example of how Melinda is trapped in her own maze of negative thoughts and feelings, and this has caused her to assume horrible things that were never told to her. Also, it’s interesting to see how Melinda believes that her family is “playacting”, and that this has badly impacted her family while Melinda is sort of playacting by pretending to other people that nothing is wrong when Melinda is being consumed by the fears and troubles she is facing from being raped. As I look at how Melinda trudges through depression during most of her school year, I feel terrible for her that she had to be faced with any of her bad experiences in the first place. The way Melinda feels in the beginning/middle of the novel demonstrates how keeping in her secret starts to break her.

On the contrary, the end of the novel showed a different Melinda, one who opens up, faces her fears, and stands up for herself. Now, Melinda begins to realize that the rape doesn’t have to encompass her thoughts, and she figures out just how important and relieving sharing her secret is. “When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time. You'd be shocked at how many adults are really dead inside—walking through their days with no idea who they are, just waiting for a heart attack or cancer or a Mack truck to come along and finish the job. It's the saddest thing I know.” Melinda is noticing how expressing yourself and speaking your emotions is vital to living a happier, healthier life. She is understanding how heartbreaking it is to know that people live their own lives feeling worthless. Furthermore, the novel shows an extreme breakthrough in Melinda’s life by describing a second incident with Andy. There was a time when he tried to rape Melinda again, but, instead of letting it all happen, she help a piece of glass to his throat and yelled, “I SAID NO!” at the top of her lungs to express that she would not tolerate being raped because it damaged her. Afterwards, an old friend of Melinda’s, named Nicole, rushed over with the rest of her lacrosse team to help and support Melinda. Speaking up for herself and getting her dark secret out there has benefitted Melinda in great ways, and it has shown her that it is necessary to help yourself, even if that means doing something that your fear, like sharing a big secret. 

The essence of the story is about secrets and how powerfully they can affect a person. Keeping a secret bottled up can really damage you while releasing it can lift a huge weight from you. The novel also deeply explores the issue of rape, which is an extremely sickly problem that hurts and emotionally scars people. Melinda’s encounters with the issue help the reader learn about the importance of not only letting out your secrets, but letting yourself be safe and to stand up for yourself. It is vital to live comfortably, and Speak emphasizes this. By looking at Melinda’s transformation, we can notice that letting the truth free is one of the best things that can happen to a person.

Martín Espada Essay

Martín Espada Essay

Throughout our world today, there are many issues that exist, especially those that have to do with other races, cultures, and people. Poet Martín Espada puts a spotlight on these injustices and writes about them in his poetry. Poems such as, “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School”, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” and “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 13, 1877,” show Espada’s understanding and opinions on the issue of bigotry. By analyzing these three poems written by Martín Espada, it is evident that Espada has a deep understanding of the issue of discrimination, and he can relate to what it feels like to be hated on or misunderstood because of race/ethnicity.

The poem, “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,” is about a group of students chattering in Spanish in the boys bathroom as the principal of the school eavesdrops. Not knowing Spanish, the principal assumes they are gossiping because they said his name, and he bans speaking Spanish from the school. Espada has lines in the poem that show an example of his accurate understanding of the issue. For example, “The only word he recognizes/ is his own name/ and this constipates him/ So he decides/ to ban Spanish/ from the bathrooms/ Now he can relax.” These lines portray how many people who aren’t immigrants, or who don’t speak other languages besides English, react to people who are native and who practice other things. By elaborating on how the principal feels, Espada illustrates how other immigrants are being treated by Americans. Espada really magnifies the fact that many people jump to conclusions and aren’t respectful of other cultures by writing about how the principal put his own, selfish concerns before the concerns of the boys speaking Spanish. Additionally, the fact that the high school is called “English High School,” depicts how it is for English and how it may not be so accepting of other languages, such as Spanish. The quote analyzed above proves how “English High School” really was just for English. Having named the high school “English High School” is an example of Espada’s understanding of discrimination, and it shows how strongly he feels other ethnicities are treated disrespectfully. Espada’s representation of racism and inequality through his poem, “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School” renders his comprehension of the problem in general. 

“Revolutionary Spanish Lesson” is a poem that mostly talks about how he can relate to having people not fathom his language and culture. Espada’s name is Spanish, and Americans constantly can’t say his name correctly. This poem summarizes how Espada feels when his name is mispronounced. For instance, Espada claims that he wants to, “hijack a busload/ of Republican/ tourists/ from Wisconsin,/ force them to chant/ anti-American slogans/ in Spanish.” This line shows how Espada recognizes the anger and annoyance that people from different backgrounds feel when their name is mispronounced. By writing this poem, the reader can really see that Espada empathizes with other people who feel the same way as him. Another excerpt of the poem says, “Whenever my name/ is mispronounced,/ I want to buy a toy pistol.” Though this section is short, it portrays Espada’s anger and how he wants Americans to be aware of the different cultures and lifestyles that are becoming apart of their country. Overall, the poem “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson” really zooms in on how Espada understands the bigotry going on by being a victim of some of it.

“Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 13, 1877” is a much more serious poem that discusses an event in which two Mexican men were lynched in public. In this poem, Espada doesn’t really empathize the way he does in “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” because he has never been hung, but he writes about the event in an accurate way. “remain the/ faces of the lynching party:/ faded as pennies from 1877, a few stunned/ in the blur of execution,/ a high-collar boy smirking, some peering/ from the shade of bowler hats, but all/ crowding into the photo graph.” This quote expresses the different reactions people had, because of the lynching. Espada realizes that people will not have the same reactions to the event of the lynching, so he purposely explained how people were stunned, but people were laughing at the event. By doing this in his writing, Espada demonstrates a clear understanding of discrimination. Some people are the discriminators, and Espada knows this. “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 13, 1877” includes lines that portray Espada’s understanding of inequality by showing how different characters react to a single situation.

After looking at all three of these poems, one can see that Espada definitely understands what racism is. “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 13, 1877” and “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School” are poems that allow Espada’s comprehension of bigotry to shine through. Espada is truthful in these poems, and he portrays forms of discrimination in his poetry that are real. The poem, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson,” however, exhibits Espada’s identification with people who do not come from the same places as him. When the Americans keep pronouncing his name wrong, Espada is infuriated, and he knows that other people with foreign names feel the same way, as Americans don’t understand these languages and cultures well. Not only does “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson” show that Espada understand what it’s like to feel persecuted, but it shows that he can really understand the feeling that Spanish people feel, because he is of Spanish or Latino descent. Overall, all of the three poems exhibit Espada’s understanding and connection to discrimination and racism. 

Gaokao: Fair or Unfair

Essay on Upfront Issued 3/20/15

In most schools around the world, students are required to take tests, whether it be for a subject in school or for admissions to a different school. In China, millions of students are required to take an exam, called the gaokao, which determines whether or not a high school student can advance to college. The article, “China’s Cram Schools,” found in The New York Times Upfront Magazine issued on March 30, 2015, and written by Brook Larmer, refers to this exam as the “do-or-die” college exam, and I completely agree with this quote. A large portion of their future depends on this exam, and this puts an immense amount of pressure on teenagers in China. By looking at what Larmer has to say in his article “China’s Cram Schools,” I believe it to be unfair that one exam can determine the future of a Chinese high-schooler.

Firstly, the amount of pressure put on the kids is horrific, and teenage suicide rates rise as the gaokao nears. The fact that an exam can cause teenagers to kill themselves is sickening, and it shows how the gaokao really affects ones mental health in a negative way. Additionally, the stress that the gaokao exam makes teenagers feel causes them to go to extreme measures in order to study. In “China’s Cram Schools,” Larmer discusses about a picture that was posted online two years ago. In it is a classroom full of Chinese teenagers who are hooked up to intravenous drips in order to give themselves the strength to keep studying. Not only is this fact shocking, it’s detrimental. Studying for a test should not be the reason teens are using intravenous drips to keep themselves stable. The burden placed amongst Chinese teenagers is insane, and because of this, students may not perform as well on the test as they could’ve. Taking this test doesn’t even accurately measure who the teenager is as a student, learner, and person because of all the pressure that is clouding their mind.

Furthermore, every teenager in China has different living situations, so students are either at advantages or disadvantages. Teens living in rural areas have a serious dilemma. These villages lack well trained teachers and exceptional schools, while the upper class families are guaranteed to have private tutors, take test-prep courses, or send their children abroad to private international schools in China. Plus, college-admissions spots are usually granted to upper class families rather than rural students. The fact that other teens have a gigantic advantage over others is unfair, and this illustrates how one test is as unjust way of determining a students future. Instead, Chinese universities should know how each teen learns and acts before admitting them, instead of just throwing a test on them. 

Taking the gaokao exam of admissions is very unfair for Chinese students who want to get into a university and have a stable job. The amount of pressure put on these teens is absurd, and mental health levels dramatically drop as a result of the abhorrent amount of stress these poor students feel because of one exam. Also, the exam does not accurately measure who is cut for what school. People have different living conditions, therefore some teens are able to afford the best private tutors, while others are stuck in crummy schools with uneducated teachers. By looking at these dreadful aspects of the gaokao, it seems as if China may be setting up their students for failure, that’s what it sure seems like! Students will feel so concerned to do well during the exam, or all their years of cramming in the material for this test will go to waste, and so will all the money spent on tutors and extra schooling. So, the families as a whole are not only being robbed of their money and time, but their kid will not go to a university and will have an unacceptable job for the majority of their life. To conclude, it is extremely unfair that so much is riding on a single test for the students in China. 

Scarlet Letter Essay (bookclub book #1)

Evy Rahmey 802                        2/10/15

ELA The Scarlet Letter Essay

The book The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthrone, is about a woman, named Hester, who has committed adultery. Because of this, she is forced to wear a scarlet “A” on her chest to show the world that she has sinned. Many people are hostile towards Hester because their first view of her is that she has committed such an atrocious crime. Plus, people are very ornery towards Pearl because she is the child Hester had with the man she committed adultery with. But, although Hester is forced to wear the scarlet “A” to show that she has done an abhorrent thing, she decides to change its meaning, to something that she would rather refer to herself as, through her selfless, compassionate, and caring actions towards herself and others. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, the Puritan society in which Hester lives gives the scarlet “A” a negative meaning, but Hester decides to transform it into something that she would rather be identified as. 

The society that Hester lives in defines her scarlet “A” as a detail that shows that she committed adultery. Hester’s town despises her and gives the scarlet “A” a worse and worse meaning than it was first given. For example, there is a scene where Hester, Pearl and governor Dimmesdale are in the forest, and Pearl says, “‘Mother,’ said little Pearl, ‘the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!’” This quote portrays how disturbing adultery is to the Puritan society. The narrator phrased this quote as if the entire world, including nature, is so horrified about what Hester has done, and they don’t want to be associated with someone who has done such a thing. Additionally, during Hester’s confrontation, a town member says, “‘This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statute-book. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray!’” By looking at how this town member describes Hester, it is evident that Hester’s town perceives the the scarlet “A” as something to be ashamed of. In both quotes, the idea of people not wanting to be around Hester keeps coming up, from the sun never gleaming on Hester to her town members having a desire to kill her. The way that the town reacts to her shows that they recognize the scarlet “A” as a detrimental aspect of life. 

However, Hester gives the scarlet “A” a different meaning. Instead of viewing the scarlet “A” as the most horrid thing ever, Hester sees her scarlet “A” as a reminder of her past decisions and actions, and that she can improve herself as time goes on. “But Hester Prynne, with a mind of native courage and activity, and for so long a period not merely estranged, but outlawed, from society, had habituated herself to such latitude of speculation as was altogether foreign to the clergyman. She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness. . . . The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers,—stern and wild ones,—and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.” This quote depicts how the scarlet “A” teaches her that what happened in the past can set parts of the stage for the future. Wearing the scarlet “A” in public represents bravery, and later in the book, Hester’s actions show her bravery that the scarlet “A” gives her. Mostly, Hester defines the scarlet “A” as something that represents her past and enhances her future.

In The Scarlet Letter, both Hester and the society in which she lives define Hester’s scarlet “A” as something different. By looking at this example, we can see how things are very controversial and people take many different views on many different topics, as Hester and her Puritan society have contrasting views about the scarlet “A.” This example also shows how people have the ability to define things the way they want to, and that other peoples’ opinions don’t have to overpower them, unless they decide to be engulfed in other peoples’ opinions. Overall, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthrone shows how one thing is viewed differently by Hester and her society. 

Argumentative Essay: Should Certain Books Be Banned?

       

          Dear Ms. Berner and the School Administration, 

Reading in general helps people with better vocabulary, comprehension skills, and speaking. Many different books can also emotionally impact a person's thoughts or opinions. So, should books that deal with hard to handle issues be banned because of how they may scare a person and make them have alarming thoughts? So far, in America, thousands of books have been banned in schools and libraries due to some “inappropriate” and “dark” content. However, I think otherwise because books that focus on more serious topics can be beneficial towards how people, especially teenagers, think, and they could get knowledgeable information out of them. Overall, I disagree with the idea of banning books in general because everyone has different maturity levels, and more somber books can teach people about real world issues.

Firstly, more advanced and serious books can teach teenagers about very crucial and detrimental problems that are happening/happened in our world, and they could teach teens to not get involved in such complications. People can't be shielded from the different factors that affect their lives today, even if they are negative, and books are an easier way of addressing these problems to teenagers. The article “Should More YA Fiction Be Read In Schools?”, which was posted on www.theguardian.com, talks about how schools don’t incorporate books that deal with serious issues into their lessons at school, and that they are not seen on many bookshelves at schools. “These stories could be so beneficial to students, while at the same time potentially opening them up to a broader reading base and helping them discover something in themselves that they didn’t know before.” This quote demonstrates how many young adult books that deal with devastating troubles help teenagers learn about these dilemmas by showing them how they are being applied in their lives today, and how they were being applied in the past. This method of learning opens teenagers’ eyes to the world around them, and allow them to make many responsible decisions on their own so that they avoid such obstacles. 

Additionally, many YA books that contain adverse issues help teenagers because teens can relate to the characters that are facing similar problems to what they’re facing. The characters in the YA books help teens cope with their emotions, and even inspire them to help minimize the amount of issues going on in the world. In Maureen Johnson’s article, “Yes, Teen Fiction May Be Dark, But it Shows Teenagers That They Are Not Alone,” she talks about exactly what the title says; how teens aren’t alone, and how they rely on books to remind them of this. “If subjects like these are in YA books, it's to show that they are real, they have happened to others, and they can be survived. For teenagers, there is sometimes no message more critical than: you are not alone.” This quote explains the goodness in having something to relate to, even if it’s a character in a book. Many people don’t understand how important it is for teenagers to relate to someone who is going through exactly what they are going through, and Johnson’s article is telling people how a lot of teenagers need more things than people think to keep them emotionally stable and even jubilant. In Sherman Alexie’s article “Why the Best Kids Books are Written in Blood”, Alexie also explains how rather gloomy YA books can have an extremely positive impact on teens. “And there are millions of teens who read because they are sad and lonely and enraged. They read because they live in an often-terrible world. They read because they believe, despite the callow protestations of certain adults, that books-especially the dark and dangerous ones-will save them.” Here, Alexie demonstrates how books help kids escape from their own lives and look at someone else’s who is living a similar life to them. The fact that teens aren’t alone are enough to get them off their feet and do something about the problems out there. Furthermore, the way these YA books are written is so that they are realistic and true. The authors purposefully do this, so that teens know that authors are aware of these problems, and they show that the know by writing these inspiring books to help teenagers cope, and these books can even save the lives of teenagers because they’re so impacting.

Although these somber YA books do educate teens about these problems and how to control their own problems, they still contain very horrifying content that may startle many teens and put them in a state of shock. Meghan Gurdon talks about the disturbing content that many YA books accommodate in her article “Darkness to Visible”. “If books show us the world, teen fiction can be like a hall of fun-house mirrors, constantly reflecting back hideously distorted portrayals of what life is.” In this quote, Gurdon depicts what she thinks of many YA books based on the gruesome topics they encircle. Gurdon says that these books are showing problems to their extent, almost as if they’re being exaggerated to frighten the reader and make them almost too aware of what’s going on in our world. However, these serious books are written by authors that are not exaggerating problems, instead they are showing them for how they are. The positive ways that teenagers respond to these books show that Gurdon is wrong and that problems are shown how they are in the real world, even if they are hideous and hard to handle. In Ellen Hopkins’s article, “Banned Books Week 2010: An Anti Censorship Manifesto,” she describes how a high schooler responded to one of her books. “She saw herself in those pages, and suddenly knew she didn't want to be there. That book turned her around. Today she's been sober two years, is graduating high school and has embarked on a modeling career.” This is a great example of how a character in a book that deals with colossal issues in our world positively changes the way a person deals with their own life by impacting them to help themselves. The woman that Hopkins discussed said that she saw herself in the book, and that, by the writing of the book and the way the characters moved on, she realized that she needed to make a difference in her way of living. Reading these types of books helps people relate and see themselves and their problems for how they really are. These books shouldn’t be banned because then teenagers who need someone, even someone fictional, to relate to wouldn’t get that person, and the people who want to ban these books, such as Gurdon, are oblivious to how teenagers are positively reacting to these books.

Banning books in schools and libraries isn’t going to benefit the majority of the readers. Many teenagers are looking for a character in a book to relate to and someone that can help them with their own problems. Also, many teens just want knowledge about the problems at hand. People are able to choose what they want to read for a purpose, and the people who want, or need, to read more hard to handle books should have accessibility to those books. The people who don’t want to read a book like that don’t need to. Plus, Maureen Johnson’s article “Yes, Teen Fiction May Be Dark, But it Shows Teenagers That They Are Not Alone” says, “There isn't a YA writer alive who is out writing books to corrupt youth. No one writing about self-harm is teaching how to self-harm.”, and this statement is the truth. All of these YA books were written to inform people about exactly how bad many issues in our world are and were, and people are taking that the wrong way. It is important for all books to stay on the shelves of libraries and schools, no matter how revolting and terrifying, because who knows how positively teenagers will react when they see they aren’t alone and that they know they could help those in need.

Sincerely, 

Evy Rahmey

Bibliography

Alexie, Sherman. "Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood." Wall Street Journal. N.p., 9 June 2011. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.   http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/06/09/why-the-best-kids-books-are-written-in-blood/?mod=google_news_blog

           

Gurdon, Meghan Cox. "Darkness Too Visible." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 4 June 2011. Web. 25 Nov. 2014 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303657404576357622592697038?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303657404576357622592697038.html                                          

Hopkins, Ellen. "Banned Books Week 2010: An Anti-Censorship Manifesto."The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 30 Sept. 2010. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-hopkins/banned-books-anticensorship-manifesto_b_744219.html    

Johnson, Maureen. "Yes, Teen Fiction Can Be Dark - but It Shows Teenagers They Aren't Alone." The Guardian. N.p., 8 June 2011. Web. 25 Nov. 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jun/08/teen-fiction-dark-young-adult

"Should More YA Fiction Be Read In Schools?" Www.theguardian.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.