In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda Sordino is a freshman at Merryweather High School. She has no friends, because of an incident that happened at a party in the previous summer, where she called the cops, and ruined the party. Melinda has major problems throughout the novel, due to emotional and physical distress.
After watching the movie and reading the book, a bunch of significant similarities and differences stood out. One similarity that is really significant is when someone throws food at Melinda in the lunch room, and she runs away.That is very significant because just like in the book, Melinda does not speak. She chooses to runaway from her problems, and not to deal with them.
Another similarity is when David Petrakis stands up for Melinda when she does not want to give out her speech for history in words. That is extremely significant since it proves that she does not want to talk, although still wants to live her life smoothly. That is pretty much impossible, since without communicating she will not be able to get much done. A third similarity is how Melinda's lips are always chapped in both of the works.This is significant because it shows that Melinda cannot speak, and bites her lips instead.
It also shows that Melinda does not handle her situations well when she is under pressure, and throughout the book, she is under the pressure of knowing that she was raped. Another similarity is how Melinda stays in her closet instead of being with people. This is very important, because it proves that Melinda is scared to communicate in both the movie and the book, and that she deals with it by hiding. It also makes it obvious why Melinda does not have any friends at her school.The final similarity is when Andy Evans tries to beat Melinda at the end of both of the works. That is very significant, because it portrays what he is thinking and his mindset.
Throughout the whole story, Andy does not seem scared that Melinda will tell anyone what happened, and does not abuse Melinda in anyway, besides teasing her. Although, at the end of the story when Rachel blows him off, he knows that Melinda is finally talking, therefore he tries to beat her up, although does not succeed in doing so. One difference that is highly significant is when Andy Evans does not play with Melinda's hair in the lunch room.That makes Andy Evans not look like as much of the freak that he is, and nearly makes him look innocent. That does not fit the story well, since he is obviously not innocent, and it is drawing an image of him as a nice guy who did not do anything bad.
Another major difference is how in the movie Melinda's family does not communicate with notes. That is very significant, since it makes her family look like a family that talks with each other, and they do not. Unlike the book, they talk a lot in the movie, and not just about Melinda's issues.The third difference is how the movie does not mention Melinda getting driven by Mr. Freeman to the clothing store. That is very significant, since the director of the movie does not want children to get the wrong message, and think that being really close with one of your teachers outside of school is safe.
Another big difference is when David Petrakis asks Melinda to go eat Chinese food with him and his friends. Melinda accepts his offer, which is extremely significant since in the book Melinda denies David's offer to go out with him and his friends.Also, it makes Melinda seem not as frightened as she really is throughout the whole book. The final major difference is when Melinda tells her mom about the party at the end of the movie. That is major, since in the book Melinda almost completely refuses to talk to her mom about her smaller problems.
The movie makes Melinda's personality different from her personality in the book. I think that the book was better because of a couple of reasons. One reason is because that book gave more details about the whole story. The movie jumped to certain parts spontaneously, which made it confusing to follow.Another reason is because the book was more realistic.
For example, in the book, when David Petrakis asked Melinda to go out with him and his friends, she said no, since she was thinking to what happened the last time she did that. Although in the movie, when David asks her to go with him and his friends to eat chine food, she accepts. This makes it unrealistic since she got raped not a long time before that, and to accept an offer to go out with only boys, is not a realistic reaction from a human being. In conclusion, there are many similarities and differences that are very significant in the two works.
