Speak: Mel's web of seclusion

In Speak, Melinda creates an extremely vast and complicated web of seclusion. She keeps her self alienated from everyone in many ways that I think even she is not aware of.

I found it interesting in that Mel closes herself off to all but the most superficial of people.

Her friend Heather I suppose is a "safe" choice for a friend because she is too shallow to pry into anything deeper than Mel's surface. With her, Mel won't have to worry about the subject of her rape or her behavior coming up and forcing her to confront it.

I think Mel uses her stereotypical nicknames for people to keep her relationships with under control as well. She may have to converse and relate to teachers but instead she diminishes them to the status of exaggerated body parts. (Mr. Neck, Hairwoman, etc...) In this way she keeps her teachers at a safe distance. She never takes them seriously for who they are or what she might gain from them. In a way, she really dehuminizes them so that she won't feel pressure to relate to them in any uncomfortable or emotional way.

This is really an amazing and powerfully complex system that Mel has come up with to shield her from dealing with her rape and the issues that stemmed from it. Anderson has really tapped into it and layered it so heavily that it becomes very poignant and powerful. So, when Mel finally comes out of it and defends herself (and "speaks") it becomes even more powerful and emotional for the reader.

In the intereview at the end of the Platinum Edition of the novel Anderson says: "I don't send messages. I try to tell good stories."

I wonder if she was completely aware of the levels of complexity that she was creating when she was writing this novel.

I always get a kick out of Religious controversy, so when I heard about the Christian attacks on Phillip Pulman's His Dark Materials trilogy sparked by the new movie I went out and bought the trilogy. I have to laugh at interest groups like these that make a big stink about things which in turn, ends up publicizing them even more. I, for one, had never heard of the books before I heard about the controversy but now I'm a fan. It seems that any publicity truly is good publicity. Perhaps if these interest groups shut their damn mouths about things fewer people would hear about them and movies like The Golden Compass would drift off into obscurity.

Anyway, this is what they are saying:

"These books denigrate Christianity, thrash the Catholic Church and sell the virtues of atheism," said Bill Donohue, president and CEO of the Catholic League.
This is from a Foxnews.com article By Catherine Donaldson-Evans

While the books certainly do attack established Christianity as an establishment. Many of the points of the book require a profound belief in God and in the stories of the Bible. lord Asriel's war against "The Authority," for instance, is a continuation of war that Satan began against Heaven. Though the idea of overthrowing Heaven is certainly controversial, it cannot be called "atheist" as it assumes the truth of the original biblical story.

The book also upholds many "Christian" values and only attacks the aspects of the church that Pulman finds controlling and contradictory. Lyra learns to be honest and keep promises when she vows not to ask the Alethiometer specific questions about Will. And the big "Love" value becomes the central theme of the story by the end as it is Lyra and Will's love that stops the Dust from flowing out of the world. He attacks however, the church's role in censoring "heretical" ideas and discoveries and their use of torture to accomplish that task. Both of which are things the Catholic Church did by the way.

Let me know what you think!

Isn't this an awesome picture?

Also the Prince Caspain movie looks just about as bad ass as Disney could make it!