Speak Guilt and Blame Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #10

There's more. Different pens, different handwriting, conversations between some writers, arrows to longer paragraphs. (84.9)

Melinda's anti-Andy graffiti gets a big response. This is the main way we, and Melinda and Ivy, learn that Andy's made a career of victimizing the girls at school. This helps Melinda understand that the rape isn't her fault.

Quote #11

"I never raped anybody. I don't have to. You wanted it just as bad as I did. But your feelings got hurt, so you start spreading lies, and now every girl in school is talking about me like I'm so kind of pervert. (87.8)

If Andy has said stuff like this to Melinda earlier in the school year, she might have believed it on some level. Now she knows better.

Quote #12

There is no avoiding it, no forgetting. No running away, or flying, or burying, or hiding. Andy Evans raped me in August when I was drunk and too young to know what was happening. It wasn't my fault. […] And I'm not going to let it kill me. I can grow. (89.9)

Melinda understands that while she's not responsible for being rape, she is responsible for taking control of her recovery from it.