A teenagers life is not easy as many things change during this time period. During this time, many go through a strenuous phase filled with mixed emotions and drama before they are able to become a responsible and sensible adult. One of the most important aspect of a teenager is to get accepted into the new school environment, friends, and to be able to blend in well with new people. The book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a classic which describes the life of a teenager. The book is entirely based on a girl named Melinda and her struggle to deal with physical abuse she had gone through during her first year in high school. The poem “Elephant in the Room” descriptively depicts and symbolizes the issue as an elephant that creates disturbance between one or more individuals. It also depicts how an individual tries their best to talk about everything else than the main issue because they are too scared to face the truth. Both the poem and the book are closely relates to each other because of their main are of focus.
The poem “Elephant in the Room” and the book Speak are both closely correlated in the aspects of not facing the truth. Both of these pieces of literature show how it is hard to talk to people, when one has faced a tragic or a major trouble. The book Speak revolves around a girl called Melinda who had been raped during a summer party before she went to Merryweather High School. This problem can be symbolized as the elephant in herself which she does not want to talk about with anyone. “It is large and squatting, so it is hard to get around it.” (Line 2) can be related to the book as the incident that happened during summer had parted her away from her friends, but she still does not tell them what happened. She was emotionally paralyzed because of that event and faced a lot of difficulties to adjust to the new environment of High School where everything changed drastically. In the end, Melinda was able to overcome the fear that people would not accept her after she told them what had happened and was finally able to tell the truth to her friend and her teacher.
Melinda knows that she has to let go of the traumatizing event from her mind. As her first year in high school begins she finds it very difficult to forget everything and to adjust to the new teachers and students. In additional to that, she frequently had to confront the person who raped her, where she wants evanesce. Her family status is not good either. Her parents keep fighting which results in her being conservative and her to avoid communication with others. All these reasons create pressure on her and hurt her so much until she was phlegmatic for anything. This situation can be connected to the lines in the poem. “It is constantly on our minds. For, you see, it is a very large elephant. / It had hurt us all.” (Line 8-9). This perfectly describes the situation and the drama Melinda was going through in her life.
Like Melinda, there are many people who keep traumatizing events problems within and never discuss it with anyone. This causes them to go into depression which hurt them very badly. Especially in Desi culture, the traumatizing event which happened to Melinda would be a taboo to talk about. This kind of incident should never be discussed with anyone or in public. Coping with events like this will be arduous to deal with in Desi culture. Though many people in this culture do not go through these events, there are problem which creates a big elephant between two people. In this case the big elephant would be the misunderstanding or a fight. Many people just maintain their distance and act like nothing really happened.
I personally am a very outspoken person so when things happen I cannot keep them within me and act to keep hurt myself by staying implicit. I talk to my friends and seek their advice, or if there is a misunderstanding with anyone, I take the first step to clear it. Talking to people about my problems has never been a big issue for me and I am grateful for that. If a situation like Melinda’s had happened to me, I would be as traumatized as she was. I would try to talk to my parents first, as it is important for them to know and later my friends so they can help me cope with the situation and help me out during hard times. Unlike Melinda, I would not isolate myself, but rather help myself get over the situation by distracting myself and interacting with others.
Overall, I think both, the book Speak and the poem “Elephant in the Room”, are closely related and touch on a specific topic-hiding and suppressing tragic events in life which leads the individuals being hurt and suffering more. It also touches upon how one tries very hard to avoid that subject by acting as if nothing ever happened though its hurts them a lot. Both of them show how pressuring emotions within oneself can cause a lot of damage and it is necessary to talk about and to help them to cope with their problems.