Austin Cunat 2/23/18 7thper/Young Adult Lit. Mrs.

Ray Speak Term3 CERCA Paragraph:

I believe the most important thing from the story Speak is that I learned that Melinda doesn’t know how to express her
feelings both mentally and emotionally.

My first piece of evidence for the claim was when at school her friend Heather calls Melinda out to say, “You don’t act like
anything. You’re the most depressed person I ever met and excuse me for saying this, but you are no fun to be around and I
think you need professional help”(105).
My second piece of evidence for the claim is when her art teacher Mr. Freemen gives Melinda a ride to school and he tells her
an important life lesson, “When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time. You be shocked how many
adults are really dead inside walking through their days with no idea who they are, just waiting for a heart attack, cancer, or a
Mack truck to come along and finish the job”(122).

The first quote proves that Melinda acts depressed making her a boring friend to be with to the point where she would be
desperate to get another friend.
The second quote proves that if you don’t open up your feelings now when you are young you can grow up to be a “dead-
inside, depressed, and lonely” adult with thoughts of suicide.

Others may say opening up your feelings would make you a “scared, cowardly drama-queen” that you would never become a
brave, fearless, hero when you’re in a situation that would require it. For example, countering terrorism.

In reality, Melinda already doesn’t know how to express herself mentally and emotionally. She can’t figure out who she is or
her personality. Lastly, I believe it’s important to open up your mind to let feelings out to someone like a friend, parent,
teacher, and therapist or in a painting, sculpture, or drawing. If you spend your life bottling up your true feelings you could
end up living a life of depression or worse.