Conflict

Page 3
"If I sit in the front, it will make me look like a kid, but I figure it's the best chance I have to make eye contact with one of my friends,if any of them have decided to talk to me yet." This is what Melinda, the main character said when she was getting on the bus for the first day of school. Over the summer, she and all her friends were at a party, and all the kids were drunk. One of the boys, Andy Evans raped her. She didn't know what to do, so she called the cops right away. All the kids ran away, and thought that she was a "party popper." No body knew the real reason to why she called the cops, so everyone decided not to talk to her. She went into a new year in high school, having no friends. Everyone would gossip about her, and start rumors. She was looked at negatively while walking through the hallways.
1. The significance of this passage is that it tells the reader what kind of person Melinda is. She is basically thinking about something that could affect her High School life. It relates to the book as a whole because this passage is in the beginning of the book and by the end, I think this shows how she changed by the way she thinks and speaks.
2. The authors purpose in this passage is that she is trying to show how Melinda thinks and how she thinks her actions out before she does them.
3. It is the authors purpose because throughout the book it shows how she changed and when you look back, you see that the author was trying to convey a smart yet quiet girl.

4. The effects that it had on me as the reader is that as I read the book, it showed how Melinda though about her friends and how to get them to talk to her or make eye contact with her.