Shout Review by Elaine Alexander
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Shout: a poetry memoir. New York: Viking, 2019. ISBN: 9780670012107
SUMMARY
This powerful novel in verse depicts the personal journey of teen author, Laurie Halse Anderson; recounting her formative years, the assault that silenced her, as well as her path back to finding her voice through therapy and writing one of the most influential novels in our time, Speak. Shout stemmed from Anderson's many school visits and encounters with victims of assault, the lack of proper education about consent, and her tireless passion to help give a voice to survivors.
ANALYSIS
This memoir from award-winning novelist and rape survivor, Laurie Halse Anderson, packs an emotional punch. The language is raw, visceral, and filled with moments that cut to heart of the painful journey survivors must make in order to heal. The book is divided into three sections. The first deals with Anderson's early life in a dysfunctional home and the assault that would impact her life so profoundly. The second touches on her life as an award-winning author and the numerous school visits that connected her with fellow survivors. The third wraps up her family history and provides encouragement for survivors to put themselves on a path to hope and healing.
This book stimulates emotional responses both for its content and direct candor. Anderson's words are direct, telling readers that "scars may look stronger than unwounded skin,/but they're not/ once broken, we're easily hurt again, or worse" (113). This book has strong appeal to fans of Speak, since the content covers the author's assault, her subsequent loss of her voice, and eventually how she came to write the character of Melinda. Speak borrows heavily from Anderson's own experiences, but Shout also covers the author's experiences in the twenty years she has spoken to teenagers on the subject of rape and consent. While each poem is Anderson's creation, her poems allow the reader to access the confessions from other victims and the ripple effect that her books have had to help victims begin to share their own stories. As the book progresses and more stories are shared, the concepts of confession, victim silence and shame, begin to emerge and shape themselves until the reader understands that a victim's silence is its own form of censorship. The shared experiences in the book allow that story to come forward and the victims to feel less silenced and alone. Anderson had never thought she would talk about her own rape, noting that she had learned as a child that "words/ had such power/some must never be spoken" (16). Yet, as the free verse poems share raw truths, Shout makes the point that censoring victim's stories means that we "failed and jailed/her happiness in a grave" (193), effectively preventing victims from recovering from the trauma they experience.
As the reader progresses through the book, the poems recounting assaults move from more matter-of-fact narration of events, to angry and biting in tone and word choice. The language is raw and unflinching, and the tone moves from speaking, to shouting. The anger and frustration that not much has changed in the twenty years since Speak was released is palpable. Poems that recount the censorship of Laurie Halse Anderson's books begin to equate that censorship with silencing victims and perpetuating the culture of violence that prevents or reduces assaults from occurring. Anderson had dedicated much of her time to speaking about sexual assault and educating teens, partnering with RAINN to try to bring awareness and change. No writer likes to be censored, but in Anderson's case where the content of her books are designed to give a voice to those who need one, banning her books mean that "the false innocence/you render for them/by censoring truth/protects only you" (193). In other words, censoring books to protect innocence not only means silencing victims, but it also means turning a blind eye from the uncomfortable reality -- that rapes and assaults don't stop by forbidding teens from reading about them.
Last, Anderson has several poems with the recurring images of trees. Trees are a central figure in Speak, as Melinda struggles to recreate one, over and over in art class. Trees denote a cycle of growth that recognize a dormant stage, and renewed life. Trees also have complicated root systems that support individual trees and connect to one another, effectively creating a network. In short, "trees take care of each other" (Anderson 285). The strength and hope at novel's end leave the reader with that image of connectedness, that survivors can share a network and reach out to each other for support and nurturing in order to survive and thrive.
Use & Highlight Poem
Since the negative effects of censorship and silencing victims are so prevalent in the book, I think selecting innocence for the spotlight poem would work really well with a discussion on both topics. Pair this with the author's YouTube talk on the novel and you could lead an important classroom discussion on both consent and censorship.
https://youtu.be/g6kthOSK-4c
innocence
censoring my books
in the name of "innocence"
will not build the fence you want,
it's to a defense
against danger or stranger,
the friend or foe
whose hands want to know
the feel of your child
your baby girl or maybe
your boy, a toy for their
yearning for violence, depravity
the gravity
of which will pull your child
into wild denial
her pain untamed
by your drugs prescribed,
or her drugs street-dirty...
nothing can offer relief
from the reality that you
failed and jailed
her happiness in a grave
too deep for forgiveness
the false innocence
you render for them
by censoring truth
protects only you
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