Melinda Essay

Messed-up Mouth

            A scarred mouth. “It looks like it belongs to someone else”. Chewed up, bloody. In the book, Speak, Melinda seems like she doesn’t even want a mouth. Throughout the book, people notice Melinda’s mouth but she tries not draw attention to her mouth at all.

Melinda hides her lips in the book but people still notice, a lot. In one scene of the book, Melinda spies as “The Marthas” have a meeting. One of the girls there says, “She’s creepy. What’s wrong with her lips? It looks like she’s got a disease or something”. When you think about it, this small section of the book is kind of sad. She chews her lips when she struggles with her life, and that’s what she gets? People talking behind her back about her messed-up mouth.

            She also tries not to draw attention to her mouth. In the book, Melinda never eats around others. All she does is stir her food around on her plate. She doesn’t want people to make fun of her, so eating by herself is the best way to do that apparently? I think if that were me, I just would stop biting my lips in the first place. Not eating in front of others, just because of her scabbed and bloody lips.

            Melinda tries not to draw attention to her mouth but people still notice. She bites her lips because of the worst part of a teen’s daily life, high school. Melinda’s lips scab and end up looking ugly, even if she doesn’t eat in front of others. She can hide her mouth, but people will still notice. Melinda is stuck with the life of a messed-up mouth.