When the Rope of Friendship Becomes Frayed
A friendship is often seen as a tie that cannot be broken, no matter what interferes. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak, protagonist Melinda Sordino’s friendships oppose the above. Melinda’s friendship with Heather is one-sided. Heather constantly forces Melinda to do things that would benefit her. For example, she makes her draw posters for the school and do Martha tasks like setting up the teacher’s office. Their friendship is also complete with betrayal as Heather is ignorant to Melinda’s personal life when she is leaving her. She does not even acknowledge Melinda as a friend and criticizes her for not being a good friend, even though Melinda was her first friend. All of Melinda’s friendships do not have one attribute; understanding. Melinda’s friends do not care to …show more content…
Most of Melinda’s friendships do not have that necessity. Rachel, Ivy, Nicole and Heather all jump to conclusion with no information and end their friendship with Melinda. This is proven when Melinda tells Rachel that Andy Evans raped her. Instead of comforting Melinda, Rachel reacts aggressively and yet again does not care to hear Melinda’s side when she says: “Liar!...I can’t believe you. You’re jealous that I am popular and I’m going to the prom so you lie to me like this...You are so sick” (Anderson 184). Rachel basically tells Melinda that she said she got raped for attention. She did not want what Melinda said to be true because she was in love with Andy. Rachel jumps to a conclusion and does not even listen to the entirety of the story before accusing Melinda of being a liar. It supports the original argument because Rachel chooses to not hear Melinda’s side and not hear the truth. In this instance, she is afraid of it. Rachel lacks empathy and understanding for Melinda. She leaves Melinda in the dirt, just like she had done after the night of Kyle’s