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.