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Part 4, Chapter 15
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Speak, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age
Communication versus Silence
Appearance versus Reality
Family and Friendship
Isolation, Loneliness, and Depression
Memory and Trauma
Summary
Analysis
Yearbooks have come out, Melinda reports, signifying the end of the year. She watches students, especially cheerleaders, as they compete to get the most signatures. She notes with disgust that the yearbook photographer, Todd Ryder, only takes good pictures of people who suck up to him. Melinda has only one picture in the yearbook—it is taken from behind, and she’s wearing a giant winter coat. She decides not to buy a yearbook.
Melinda once again feels disgusted by and detached from normal high school rituals, such as yearbooks. She finds the hypocrisy of Todd Ryder appalling, and decides to disengage from the tradition entirely.
Themes
