Speak Characters

Melinda is the young star of Speak. Since she's also the narrator, everything we learn about the other characters is filtered through her. Melinda is very perceptive and bright, but her vision is s...

Rachel and Melinda have been best friends since grade school at least. She's important to the story because she's important to Melinda. Before we know Melinda was raped, Melinda thinks, "If there i...

Heather is from Ohio and is the new kid in town. She's extremely driven; so driven, in fact, that she wants to join a club for every day of the week. She wants to be part of her new community, but...

Welcome to art class. Turn on your music, break out your favorite snacks, and start creating fabulous art. Get ready to ask some hard questions about yourself and your feelings. And be prepared to...

Melinda's mom is the hardworking manager of Effert's, a downtown clothing store. She's a practical, busy woman, who struggles to balance home and career. In contrast, Melinda's dad sells insurance,...

Andy is a chilling villain. He's a high school senior who seems to have a long history of sexually assaulting girls. If the response to Melinda's anti-Andy graffiti is proof, Melinda is not the fir...

David is a brainiac and one of the few people who treats Melinda decently. He's in Melinda's social studies class and is her lab partner in biology. It's not clear how much David suspects about Mel...

Ivy used to be a Plain Jane along with Melinda, Nicole, and Rachel. Ivy wasn't at the party where Melinda called cops and doesn't seem to have any reason to be mad at Melinda. But she's not exactly...

Nicole is an ex-Plain Jane, one of Melinda's former friends. She's a talented athlete, and Melinda sees her as a nice person. As with Ivy, it's not clear if Nicole is avoiding Melinda because she's...

The official Marthas are Meg Harcutt, Emily Briggs, and Siobhan Falls. They consider themselves followers of Martha Stewart and they decorate accordingly. They raise money and food for charity, bu...

Ms. Connors is the girls' gym coach. She quickly recognizes Melinda as a talented athlete and tries to recruit her for all manner of sports. Melinda resists her inner-athlete at first, but starts g...

Hairwoman is Melinda's English teacher, so named for the crazy hairdo that covers her face. Melinda seems to feel a mixture of pity and admiration for Hairwoman. Hairwoman really tries to make her...

Ms. Keen is Melinda's biology teacher. She seems all business, but Melinda learns things in biology class that she can apply to her own life. Ms. Keen is shown as a good teacher, even though she do...

Mr. Neck is Melinda's social studies teacher. He's portrayed as a silly man who abuses his authority. Mr. Neck brings an interesting debate to Speak when he claims that immigrants kept his son from...

Principal Principal loves harassing kids and is clueless about how to actually reach out and help them. He's not evil or anything, just very removed from the reality of students' high school experi...

It would have been nice if at least the guidance counselor had a clue about what Melinda's symptoms might suggest. She doesn't seem like a bad person – she keeps in contact with Melinda's parents...