Speak Point of View

In Speak, the main character Melinda has called the cops at her first high school party because she had been assaulted by Andy Evans, and no one knew it. From then on she was socially shunned and proclaimed her as an outcast. The story is written in Melinda's point of view. From this perspective, a lot events and characters are described in a way that creates a darkly funny despair in the reader about Melinda being sexually abused. One way that Melinda's point of view influences the reader's interpretation is how this perspective shows how the incident happened. Of course it must have been scary for Melinda, especially since she was only 14. Reading from Melinda's point of view makes you feel bad for her. You're seeing other people through her eyes and the way she judges them. They could be completely different people than how she sees them. For example, Andy Evans is interpreted as a stuck up pig that only cares about how for he can get with girls, when the other guys look up to him as a cool guy that's good at sports and has a cool car. However, the reader would feel a lot differently about Andy Evans if the novel was written in the point of view of himself. For instance, Andy thought that Melinda wanted to do the things that he did to her. They were both drunk and he was disoriented. If the story were read in Andy's point of view, the reader might have even felt bad for Andy for being accused for the things he did. As you can see, the point of view of a story forces the reader to see just one side of an event or topic. In Speak, the narrator's perspective makes the reader see Andy as a worthless and disrespectful boy. Through Andy's eyes Melinda is an outcast that's nuts and overly obsessed with him. If the book Speak were in a different point of view, it wouldn't be the same book.