Author's Note: This essay is about how well people are at figuring other people out.I need to make a comparative to another book to make my score go up so If you have any books that come to mind when reading this please comment!:)
People are like algebra. There is a side they choose too show. The smiles, the laughs, the mask. But, there is also a side they chose to hide, the side covered in secrets and lies, otherwise known as, x. You can add up their likes, subtract their dislikes, multiply their actions, and divide everything they say and sometimes if you're lucky, you'll find that one person who's answer matches yours. But then, there are the equations that, no matter how hard you try, they're just impossible to figure out. But here's a hint: the adding and subtracting is easy; it's the multiplying and dividing where people tend to make mistakes.
People are like algebra. There is a side they choose too show. The smiles, the laughs, the mask. But, there is also a side they chose to hide, the side covered in secrets and lies, otherwise known as, x. You can add up their likes, subtract their dislikes, multiply their actions, and divide everything they say and sometimes if you're lucky, you'll find that one person who's answer matches yours. But then, there are the equations that, no matter how hard you try, they're just impossible to figure out. But here's a hint: the adding and subtracting is easy; it's the multiplying and dividing where people tend to make mistakes.
"Maybe I'll be an artist if I grow up" (78).
"I do not buy the gold eye shadow, I do however pick up a bottle of death black nail polish. It's gloomy, with squiggly lines of red in it" Page 83
"I open a paper clip and scratch it across my left wrist. Pitiful. If suicide attempt is a cry for help then what's this? A peep? A whimper? " Page 87.
Three quotes, nine sentences, 66 words. Yet, they say a million things about Melinda Sordino from the novel Speak. Her feelings, her hopes, her actions. The answer is obvious, but for some people, the equation is just too hard. Let's do some math.
"Maybe I'll be an artist if I grow up", The first time I read this, I didn't think much of it. Maybe she'll be an artist, yeah, pretty cool right? But then I read it again, and realized that she used the wrong subordinate conjunction…If? When I talk about what I want to be when I grow up I use, "When I grow up…" not "If I grow up…" Sure there is a slight chance that you won't grow up, that you'll be involved in some bizarre accident that cause your life to be cut short, but still, If?
"I do not buy the gold eye shadow, I do however pick up a bottle of death black nail polish. It's gloomy, with squiggly lines of red in it" Now, I'm not an expert on symbolism, but something about "Death Black" doesn't sound right. Obviously Melinda isn't happy. Could you picture Pollyanna wearing death black nail polish? Yeah, didn't think so.
"I open a paper clip and scratch it across my left wrist. Pitiful. If suicide attempt is a cry for help then what's this? A peep? A whimper?" This concerns me. Melinda is shy, she doesn't have enough courage to "Cry for help" but what happens when the whimper grows? When it eats upon her until it's strong enough. Strong enough to make her do something she'll regret.
Once you break down the steps, math gets a lot easier. I'll assume you already have the basics down, so let's move on to the more complicated things. As you can tell, Melinda isn't happy, and she makes no effort to be happy. She has started to hurt herself, and I think, that maybe, just maybe she will cut her life short. The ending of this book could go a million different ways, but I think I figured out the equation. X=Suicide.
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