Conflict/Problems

She was raped at a party. -The biggest problem in the novel is the Melinda was raped. Melinda was raped at a party. It happened because she was out alone in the woods and everyone was drunk. The only people involved in this part of the book are Andy and Melinda. The problem does get solved but it really takes a while. Andy gets in trouble and Melinda moves pasted it by speaking up about the events. From this big problem a lot of small problems grow and come up.

No one liked her. - After she was raped she called the cops and that ended the party. Many people got arrested; since she called the cops everyone was upset. Once she went to high school that followed her around; everyone was pushing her, making fun of her and putting her down. For example when she went with Heather to a football, someone pointed Melinda out as the girl of called the cops at that one party; after someone poured a soda down her back. Also heather sold her out for a clan named the Marshans. It seemed that no one cared and it was almost like that. The problem got fixed at the end because she became some sort of a hero after holding a mirror to Andy’s throat. Since that everyone then found out what really happened at the party, and was not mad at her anymore.

Couldn’t speak her mind- Since no one liked her or noticed her she never talked. Her parents were worried because she never talked it was rare when she did. Also she was going through a lot and had no one to talk to; that made her feel the pain more. Once she got Heather that only made things worst because Heather didn’t help her at all, while Melinda did. A teacher of her named Mr. Freeman tried to help her talk in the beginning of the book but Melinda didn’t have the right support at the moment and so much was going on that she couldn’t or didn’t want to talk. There were to ways this book ended the problem, the first one was that she was really in to art and that helped her express her self. The second way is that Melinda in the end spoke up and talked things out with Mr. Freeman. From there he helped her move on from those harsh events.


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