In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, there are a lot of characters. The main character is a girl named Melinda. Melinda is a sophomore who has lost her way with her own social life. She has little to no friends anymore. Also her grades are dropping quickly. This brings us to her parents; I don’t yet know their names because they were referred to as Mom and Dad in the book. Melinda's mom wants her daughter to do well in school. She also does not like when her husband buts-in to her yelling at Melinda. Melinda’s dad also wants Melinda to do her very best in school. He is also very good at Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions.

 Melinda has teachers just like any other school student. Mr. Stetman is her algebra teacher. Mr. Stetman is described as a normal guy who is just in love with algebra. Also Mr. Neck is a history teacher who is really big on school pride. Melinda seems to enjoy his class. David Petrakis is just one of those students who never gets in trouble. He is extremely smart and kids are jealous of him. Heather is one of Melinda's only friends; she has her whole life planned out in high school. She wants to grow up to be a nurse.

Some themes that are beginning to surface in the book Speak are depression and memory. I feel that the depression is going to end up being the main theme of the book. Just by now I have read about half of the book and Melinda keeps to herself and sits in back of her class rooms. She seems like she just wants to lock herself away and cry. Memory is also a very strong theme in the book Speak. Melinda is the main character who just cannot get over the memory of one night in her life. A memory of a few hours that will haunt her for the rest of her life. The memory of the time she was raped. Which brings me to the structure of the book. The structure is all about tone and how Melinda does not want to do anything.