Speak blog

Jenny McDonald
Priest 2
3/12/10
Great Books
In a robust (longer than usual) blog entry, write about the ways in which you define who YOU are? Extend that to the characters in the novel Speak - how do they define themselves

I am me. I’m Jenny, I’m unique, and I’m weird. According to William James, we all have different selves, which others define, so everyone has their own perception of me. The me inside my head is my perception of me. I define myself by who I want to be. I see successful and happy people everyday and I’ve also seen unhappy people or what Zionsville considers “unsuccessful” people. I want to be happy because I have seen so many people live unhappy lives and I don’t want to be that! I only have this one life, I want it to be a good one, so I try and make decisions to make myself happy. For me to be happy, I have to be happy with myself.

In public schools, we are so often judged and a lot of us just accept that. When I was in Zionsville, I was a nerd because I was in the “smart” classes and liked to answer questions. I stopped doing things because I didn’t want to be labeled that. In middle school we all wanted to be cool and be accepted, which is simply human nature (James would agree).

Melinda from the novel Speak, by Laurie Hulse Anderson, defines herself of what others make her. She calls herself an outcast, when really she isn’t, but the student body created her to be like that, judging her because she crashed some party and how she acts. It’s all bullshit. That kind of bullying can ruin people; send them into depression. It doesn’t even matter. In 5 years it won’t matter if I was popular or not in middle school, it doesn’t even matter now that I transferred.

However, no matter how much your mommy tells you to ignore the mean kids and says that you’re special, you still hear them. You hear them gossiping in an Elite circle and some part of you longs to join while the voice in your head is telling you how much nicer your friends are. I don’t want to be defined by others, but it is hard to resist.

I define myself by my decisions and the way I treat others. I have and will make mistakes, but it is learning from them that matters. I want to think freely and be myself because after escaping the evil grasp of middle school, people can accept me for who I am and I’m no longer afraid to be it.