The act of expressing oneself creates the difference between a depressed person and a socialized optimistic person. In Laurie Halse Anderson's novel Speak, learning to express yourself is the main theme; the protagonist Melinda learns to talk about what happened to her over the summer. The act of expressing oneself is also illustrated through various methods by characters like David Petrakis, Melinda's lab partner, and Mr. Freeman's art teacher Melinda. David Petrakis argues with Mr. Neck, the social studies teacher, and expresses his ideas and beliefs; he even takes advantage of his silence at the end of the argument to express himself. Mr. Freeman also speaks, but using different methods. He uses his art to voice his objections to school board members. In the novel, Laurie Halse Anderson emphasizes the importance of expressing oneself through the characters David Petrakis, Mr. Freeman, and Melinda Sordino. The character of David Petrakis illustrates the act of expressing himself as he argues with Mr. Neck, the social studies teacher, and lets out feelings inside him. David Petrakis is Melinda's lab partner who "belongs to the cyber-genius clan" (Halse Anderson 37) and gets good grades in all his subjects. Melinda refers to David in any intelligence-related situation. David also tries to help Melinda by making her more social. His attempts include inviting her to a pizza party and helping her with a social studies presentation. David's argument with Mr. Neck begins when Mr. Neck starts a debate about immigration and blames immigrants for the country's problems because an immigrant is accepted for a job instead of his son. After this, Mr. Neck decides to end the debate, but David argues that in a debate, every student has the right to speak. T...... middle of paper ...... speak through the characters David Petrakis, Mr. Freeman and the protagonist Melinda Sordino. David Petrakis illustrates the method of expressing yourself through action and even silence. David's speech takes place in front of Mr. Neck who wants to erase the students' personalities because he wants to end the debates without the students participating. Mr. Freeman also exemplifies the act of expressing oneself through his art. He speaks out and opposes school board policies. The protagonist Melinda is the most important character to exemplify the act of speaking out and expressing oneself. She learns to talk about what's happening to her instead of keeping it inside and suffers from depression and isolation. So, author LaurieHalse Anderson proves the importance of expressing yourself and how it can change a person's life from depressing and hopeless to joyful and optimistic..