Date of Award
Spring 2026
Document Type
Open Access Thesis
Department
English Language and Literatures
First Advisor
Tharini Viswanath
Abstract
Anderson's Speak (1999) is an award-winning novel that tells the story of high schooler Melinda Sordino who is raped. Because of her trauma, Melinda is unable to speak about the event. Speak: The Graphic Novel (2018) expands the original novel’s function through the interplay of words and images to create gaps, a space where readers interpret the text. According to Hillary Chute, comics "doesn't blend the visual and the verbal”, requiring a reader to “[fill] in the gaps between panels” (452). As a result, the graphic novel utilizes gaps to further expand on the function of Melinda’s silence within the narrative. A number of elements contribute to how readers are expected to comprehend the trauma being represented, including ambiguous wording, detailed wordless visuals, and the disconnect between text and images. First, I draw on gaps and trauma theories to examine the layers of gaps through language, images, and the combination of both. Then, I acknowledge the original novel’s function by examining silence and Melinda’s inner voice. I directly compare the original novel to the graphic interpretation to underscore differences offered to readers. Next, I examine how Melinda’s use of the words “IT” and “what really happened” establishes gaps for the reader and a distance between Melinda's understanding and reality. Additionally, I explore visual grammar of wordless images within the text and how they create gaps, requiring the reader to piece together information and understand how the images reflect Melinda’s inner turmoil. Lastly, I analyze Melinda's writing in combination with the images to illuminate her fractured subjectivity from the disconnect between words and images. I explore through the vague and ambiguous language in combination with information rich images how Speak: The Graphic Novel utilizes gaps within the narrative to offer the reader a representation of trauma and its effects by providing a glimpse into Melinda's fractured subjectivity.
Rights
© 2026, Allie Elaine Moore
Recommended Citation
Moore, A. E.(2026). "I Can't Tell Them What Really Happened”: Analyzing the Layers Of Trauma and Gaps Within Speak: The Graphic Novel. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/8860