Behind Silence and Defiance

     Speak, a novel by Laurie Halse Anderson, is about a girl named Melinda who is an outcast - an individual rejected by student and teachers alike in school. The title names the one thing she has given up: speaking. She no longer expresses herself or her opinions. One can say that she has chosen to become mute and interpret the denial towards speaking as a way to protect oneself, a form of defense.
     In our discussion, one of the topics we talked about is the immigration debate. Mr. Neck, Melinda's history teachers, opened this debate after criticizing immigrants for "stealing" jobs from "true" Americans. He believes that his son, who wanted to be a firefighter, should get the job he wanted because the Neck family has been in America for over two hundred years: built America, fought in every war, paid taxes, and voted, but is denied the job he wanted because of immigrants. This leads me to believe that Mr. Neck is one of those conservative whites who believe that they should be given first priority simply because they are white.
     In addition, Mr. Neck deeply believes that America's borders should have been closed in the 1900s so that "real Americans can get the jobs they deserve," (pg. 54) and disagrees when a student argues that everyone are foreigners and that the land should be given back to the Native Americans. This leads me to believe that Mr. Neck is one of the individuals who are racist or prejudice because they believe they should have the first opportunity towards everything because they are "special" individuals simply due to their belief in a certain god, have a certain characteristic, or something. Moreover, I half agree and half disagree with the student who contended that the land should be given back to the Native American. I agree when the student state that everyone are foreigners because no one truly originated from America. This leads to what I disagree with because the land does not belong to anyone if everyone are foreigners and so there is no reason to "return America" to any group of people.