Imagine a flightless bird, injured and alone in the forest, watching their flock fly away without them. This is what Melinda’s, the main character in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, life is like. Melinda was raped the summer before freshman year and no one knew, she then panicked and called the cops causing her peers to believe she ruined the party, and because of this Melinda isolated herself and became stuck in a void of depression, which caused her to be incredibly quiet and melancholy.
Her friends and family do not understand what it is that is debilitating her and therefore do not do anything to help er, assuming that she cannot be helped out of her flightlessness. They all fly away from her due to the fact they see her as something that holds them back and assume it is her fault for not being able to fly. These people around her reflect the stigma of a person with depression faces in society, since they are perceived negatively for something they cannot control. As Melinda goes through her year she experiences society’s stigma against depression and suffers due to it.
For instance, her “friends” and even family regard her depression as a major inconvenience, and treat her like she’s a bump in the road, reventing them from reaching their goals in life. In the beginning of her freshman year she befriends the new girl, Heather, and they remain friends until Heather feels like Melinda enjoys, to an extent, being sad and not wanting to do anything is holding her back from having fun in life.
“Heather: You don’t like anything. You are the most depressed person I’ve ever met, and excuse me for saying this, but you are no fun to be around and I think you need professional help. Me: I was the only person who talked to you on the first day of school, and now you’re blowing me off because I’m a little depressed?. (Anderson 105) This shows how Heather was willing to drop someone who was her friend because she believed Melinda being depressed was no fun and was holding her back from enjoying her own life. This is a common example of the problem people with depression face in society, people see them as inconvenience and drop even their best friends because they do not empathize with someone’s sadness.
Another example of Melinda’s depression being seen as an inconvenience is when her mom sees the self harm marks on her wrist. , and reacts coldly. “Mom sees the wrist at breakfast. Mom: ‘1 don’t have time for this, Melinda. ‘ Me: . She says suicide s for cowards… This is an uglynasty mom side” (Anderson 88 ) This clearly demonstrates that Melinda’s own mother believes that Melinda’s issues are not her priority, shown by how she says she does not have time for helping her daughter, instead of trying to make time for Melinda, highlighting how people interpret a depressed person as an inconvenience.
This is a common experience for people with depression, friends and even parental figures consider the mental health issues as something holding them back from enjoying their life and something that’s an inconvenience to them and their daily life rather than sympathizing with the person. In addition to being seen as an inconvenience Melinda is also seen as a toxic person with many negative qualities even though she cannot control the immense depression and pain she feels that causes her to act in this way.
As a result of her decisions that were made out of hopelessness and emptiness, people assume she is a bad person. For example her own parents assume that she is a bad kid “Mom: [creepy smile] “Thought you could put one over on us, did you, Melinda? Big high school student now, don’t need to show your homework to your parents, don’t need to show any failing test grades? ” Dad: [Bangs table, silverware jumps] “Cut the crap. She knows what’s up. The interim reports came today. Listen to me, young lady. I’m only going to say this once. You get those grades up or your name is mud.
Hear me? Get them up! ” (Anderson 35) This shows how even her parents think how she’s acting out because she’s a reckless teen, not because she has no motivation and no drive. Some people with depression are often thought to be toxic people because of their negative demeanor. Besides her parents, there are even teachers who do not know her, but assume she’s a bad person. “Mr. Neck makes a note in his book. I knew you were trouble the first time I saw you. I’ve taught here for twenty-four years and I can tell what’s going on in a kid’s head just by looking in their eyes.
No more warnings.. ” (Anderson 9) , demonstrating how people reach the conclusion that she is a crooked person. Lastly, people stereotype Melinda and put her in a box. They see her as ‘weird’ and do not sympathize with her in any way. For instance when her “friend” decides she’s done with Melinda she dumps her because of what people think of her “… you just can’t cut classes or not show up to school. What’s next- hanging out with the dopers? ” Me: “Is this the part where you try to be nice to me? Heather: “You have a reputation. (Anderson 106)
This shows how the majority of the people in school think of her, and other students presume she is bad news. Later on in the year Melinda is confronted by her rapist in the janitor’s closet she has considered her sanctuary and he bursts in screaming at her for telling his prom date that he raped her, and in the beginning she doesn’t defend herself and he screams at her and says” You are one strange bitch, know that? A freak. I can’t believe anyone listened to you. ” (Anderson 194), illustrating how even her rapist assumes she is strange for being ilent despite him being aware of the trauma he caused her.
In conclusion in the story Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson the supporting characters mirror the stigma in society that invalidates mental health issues. The way her peers and family act toward her verify the idea that the people in her life view her depression as an inconvenience, perceive her as negative and despondent, as well as viewing her as strange and taboo. All of these assumptions are involved with the stigma around depression within society and play a heavy role in the story as they influence how Melinda copes throughout the story.
They re also prevalent in reality as becausemany people do not feel comfortable to ask for help with their depression because of these assumptions people have about people with depression, making life more difficult and troublesome for those who do suffer from depression. At the end of the story some people in Melinda’s life begin to sympathize with her and help by not buying into the stigma that seems to control her life. A few from her flock fly down to help her, as they should have from the very start. If only society would care to fly down to help the people very people who need it instead of flying away maybe things could change.
