Express Yourself

Authors Note: This piece is about the quote “When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time.” from the book “Speak”.


Some people are considered an outcast, and others are either popular or on the edge to becoming popular. But Melinda from the novel “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson is different, everyone hates her. One little accident can change a girl’s world forever. Melinda crashed a party that had almost the school there, and now everyone despises her. Her old best friends joined off into different groups and Melinda has no one, she’s an outcast.

The quote “When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time” spoken by Melinda is trying to explain to us that if you don’t express yourself or how you feel no one will notice you. For example, when Melinda enters high school she is too scared to speak up, she sits alone because she’s too scared to make an effort. Inside of that quote when she says “…they die one piece at a time” Melinda is talking about herself, she thinks she made a mistake and that she’s dying inside, no one will even notice you if you don’t speak up and express yourself.

This quote relates to my life, I had to pronounce myself when I came to a new school. The best way to show yourself is to be yourself, you never want to act like someone that you’re not. When I came to Pewaukee I just started to talk to people, the best way to make friends is talking then people started to notice you. That’s the thing with Melinda; she was to quiet to show people that she is there, that she exists. Maybe if she would have spoken up she wouldn’t be an outcast, then maybe people would accept her for who she is.

In conclusion, some people just don’t fit in, and those are the people that are too intimidated to show themselves out to the world. Melinda needs to have a voice and express herself just like I did when I first came to school. Expressing yourself is the only way you will get noticed.