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.