How Defense Mechanism works in Speak Novel

Speak is a novel written by Laurie Halse Anderson. The story told about Melinda, the main lead who is also a narrator in this novel with a first-person perspective. Melinda was suffering during her freshman year in school because she was being outcasted by everyone. Her only friend was Heather but she was also mean to her. She got bullied because she messed up last year's party by calling the police. But actually, this novel tried to tell the true incident that happened to Melinda. She was being raped by her school mate during the party. In this novel contain a daily life of Melinda who is suffering after being rapped and how Melinda speak up. At first, Melinda was a decent student and have a lot of friends but her personality changed when she got that trauma until Melinda became outcasted, fear of lots of things, and have difficulties to maintain her everyday life. Melinda acted as a result of the anxiety she was experiencing.

Why is this novel related with Psychoanalysis?

Because it has hidden meaning that even the reader could not tell until the last chapter left. There is a lot of psychological aspects in this novel that can be analyzed since psychoanalysis tells about the human mental state which is related to Melinda’s behavior in this novel.

Repression as a defense mechanism used by Melinda as a way for her to find identity

“ Her eyes meet mine for a second. “I hate you,” she mouths silently. She turns her back to me and laughs with her friends. I bite my lip. I am not going to think about it. It was ugly, but it’s over, and I’m not going to think about it. My lip bleeds a little. It tastes like metal. I need to sit down.” (page 10, Chapter Welcome to Merrywheather High)

In speak novel, Melinda Sordino is a young girl that has been getting sexual harassment from her senior, and also she has experienced bullying in her school. After being harassed Melinda have abandoned by her friends because her friends was assuming that Melinda ruined the party because she was calling the police. in this passage, Melinda is using repression as her defense mechanism to not think about bullying.

Identification as a defense mechanism used by Melinda as a way for her to find identity

“I have a lab partner, David Petrakis. Belongs to the Cybergenius clan. He has the potential to be cute when the braces come off. He is so brilliant he makes the teachers nervous. You’d think a kid like that would get beat up a lot, but the bad guys leave him alone. I have to find out his secret.” (Page 24, Chapter Blue Roses)

Melinda admires her lab partner, David Petrakis and she wanted to adopt David’s behavior in herself.

Isolation as the defense mechanism used by Melinda to create a mental gap as barrier

“The noise of the gym pulls me in. I stand by the door for the last minute of the game. The crowd chants down the last sec. Nope I don’t do parties. No thanks. I trot out excuses: homework, strict parents, tuba practice, late-night dentist appointment, have to feed the warthogs. I don’t have a good track record with parties. “(Page 95)

In this passage, David was inviting Melinda to a party. As we know Party is a condition and situation where Melinda avoided since it would definitely bring back the unpleasant memory of her being raped by Andy. So, in the end, Melinda said that she didn’t do party and made such excuses. Also, we take a look at the “I don’t have a good track record with parties” which means that Melinda is still conscious of her memory and it gives anxiety to Melinda if she goes back into the situation. Isolation is used to protect Melinda by separating herself from that condition.

In conclusion, defense mechanism happened when the ego unconsciously blocks the unwanted memories by shifting anxiety with more acceptable behavior. the function itself is to protect individuals from threatening impulses.

Even though defense mechanism can be used positively to decrease anxiety, it can make a person unaware of their unconsciousness. Melinda used many defense mechanisms to protect herself, but in the end, it wasn’t the reason for her to speak up about her issue. It is her braveness to overcome the anxiety and fear that makes her speak up.