![]() ![]() Ableismīecause of Melody’s physical appearance, most people underestimate her abilities and assume she is mentally challenged. ![]() Even when Melody acquires the Medi-Talker device that allows her to communicate, she finds herself left out of after-school phone calls and genuine friendship. Melody’s physical appearance and inability to speak means she is isolated from social life on the playground, never asked to join in games. She is treated with disregard by most people in society, most of whom won’t bother to address her directly or ask her name when they meet her. ![]() ![]() Melody’s cerebral palsy paralyzes most of her body, leading people to presume that her mind is similarly disabled. Ultimately, Melody is unable to warn her mother that Penny has escaped the house: as a result, Melody’s mother backs her SUV over Penny’s leg. In class, she is unable to speak up to answer questions. Hugely’s office, she is unable to point out the flaws in his assessments of her intelligence. Later, Melody slips from her wheelchair, and is unable to call for help. When Melody is a baby, she is unable to tell her mother she likes the song “Elvira” when she hears it on the radio. Melody’s physical inability to speak leads to a number of conflicts whose importance escalates as the narrative progresses. Though Melody is narrating the book from a first-person perspective, she reveals in the first chapter that she has never spoken a single word aloud. ![]()
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