"I Said No"

Author’s Note: This piece of writing is to analyze a quote from the book Speak.

Imagine being in your school and everyone around you didn’t like you. They could’ve not liked you for many reasons that were bad, but what if you were a victim. You were too shy to stand up for yourself and embarrassed about being that victim, you wouldn’t tell anybody. Melinda was that girl, she had been raped and when IT took her in a closet to do it again she said “I said no” that changed everything around her in a good way. Everyone around her knew that truth and changed their feelings about her.

Melinda was the girl that everyone didn’t notice. She wasn’t able to stand of for herself she was a victim. This just wasn’t a victim of bullying she was raped. Everyone around her had treated her horrible because she was the one that called the police at the end of the year party. In everyone else’s eye she ruined their fun she was just trying to get the guy that had hurt her. She wasn’t able to stand up for herself the first time. She didn’t know what was happening, but when she knew it was happening again her whole mind changed. She had to do something to prevent it this time. “I said no” she said in a firm voice, IT as in Andy Beast. He just gave up because Melinda didn’t stop him the first time he had never been stood up to. Melinda had stopped something that could have led onto more problems.

As soon as Andy had locked her in the closet he had been in control. Controlling her and his actions, he was trying to turn into something that she didn’t want. She couldn’t even be ten feet from him in the hallway without being scared and she is forced to find other ways to her classes. She just couldn’t deal with that anymore. She thought to herself every day, I should be able to walk down my school’s halls without being scared, that isn’t what school is about. As soon as she said “I said No” she took control of the situation. She had the lead in this battle and she was going to keep the control. She hit him and then he fought back but then the lacrosse girls found them. Taking control of this horrible situation was a big gain for her.

Another big gain for Melinda in this situation is that she gained everybody else’s trust and friendships back. That was very important to her because they hated her for being a victim. They never knew the whole or true story of what happen that night. It had been her nightmare. The lacrosse girls heard her say “I said no”, they opened that door at that moment they had seen everything that she had been through. They had taken Melinda to the principal and they all told him what had happened. Gaining her friends back was one of the most important things for her and she had finally accomplished that.

This quote had played a big part in Melinda’s life. She was able to walk down the hallways without having to change her routes to her classes because of some boy that tortured her. She could walk with all her friends and she could take control of situations. She could put Andy of otherwise known as IT behind her because she knew he was never going to touch her again.