Student Question
What is Melinda's connection to Maya Angelou in Speak?
Quick answer:
In the book, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, there are strong connections to the author Maya Angelou. Melinda is able to identify with Maya's character through her own experience of being traumatized and abused, too. Maya's character is also a person who experienced difficulty in speaking after being raped at a young age. Melinda Mason may be the protagonist of Speak, but I would have to say that Brenda Miller was my favorite character in this novel. Brenda was not an easy person to get along with and she could be very harsh. She had been a mean girl back in high school when she was popular for sure. She was a cheerleader and dated all the hot guys. But now that she'In the book, Melinda takes a shine to the author Maya Angelou. It turns out that Maya's work has been banned and so Melinda decides to hang a poster of her up in her secret janitor's closet space that she's been hiding in. The librarian who gave her the poster had informed her that Maya Angelou was one of the greatest authors out there. Melinda is convinced that she would want her to read books in the secret closet. She decides that a banned author must be a very good author indeed. She brings some books into the closet in order to appease the poster of Maya Angelou. Since Melinda is feeling a bit out of place and rebellious, she identifies with Ms. Angelou for also being out of place and rebellious.
It is not mentioned in the book, but much like Melinda's character, Maya Angelou had been raped as a teenage girl. In fact, she too had post-traumatic stress from the event which resulted in her experiencing difficulty speaking. The author's choice to include Maya Angelou in the narrative appears to be more than a coincidence.
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