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Double Entry Journal: Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

608 Words3 Pages

Double Entry Journal “Scar it, give it a twisted branch – perfect trees don’t exist. Nothing is perfect. Flaws are interesting. Be the tree” (pg. 177) The quote above is from the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. It is said by Mr. Freeman, the art teacher, to Melinda in the high school art room. In this novel, Melinda, an anxious freshman girl, is shunned by her friends and peers because she called the cops to a summer party after something traumatic happened to her. The students at Melinda’s high school are quick to judge her because they don’t know what actually happened, which ruins her social and mental stability. Throughout the book, Melinda has to work on the same art project. Everyone in her class randomly picks a word at the beginning of the year and Melinda gets the word, “tree”. However, the tree Melinda works on is much more than just an art project, it is a huge symbol in Speak. It represents Melinda. The tree is numerously mentioned and shows how it is like Melinda in many ways as well …show more content…

All of Melinda’s peers are mean to her because she called the cops at the summer party but they don’t actually know that she was raped. If they had known, they wouldn’t have been mean to her and could’ve even helped her. This theme relates to the quote because everyone tree has flaws just like everyone has flaws and you can’t judge people for their flaws if you don’t why they have them. As previously mentioned, this quote helps Melinda learn to accept that she is the tree, that she has scars and isn’t perfect but its ok. A quote which proves this is when Melinda cleans up her backyard and plants a new seed. This seed is to grow a new tree, which is like growing a new Melinda. She can move on from the past, and create a new and better

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Their teacher, Mr. Freeman assigns the class a year-long project to pick a random object and turn it into a real piece of art. Melinda’s object was a tree. As the year goes on her art develops and her tree does as well. And by the end of the year when she has begun to fully heal and move past what happened to her, her tree is finished, and a beautiful piece of art. Melinda’s tree is brought up throughout the book as a symbol of how she has

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For example, the art piece she made with turkey bones, a Barbie doll head, culinary utensils, and tape had evinced her emotional distress. Mr. Freeman had seen these sensibilities within Melinda's artwork as well by saying that "[it] has meaning. Pain" (65). Melinda has an idea in her head of what she wants her tree to look like, which also symbolizes herself, "a strong old oak tree with a wide scarred trunk and thousands of leaves reaching to the sun" (78). Melinda can create this tree only if she becomes like this tree as a person by surrendering into acceptance of the atrocious offense committed against her and the scars that came with it.

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Book report I've read the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. The book is about the teenage girl Melinda, who has just started Merryweather High. She knew from the beginning that she wouldn't fit in, that she wouldn't be one of the popular girls. Every one hates her after what happened during summer, her previous friends don't want to know nothing about Melinda anymore and the rumours about her aren't so positive either. She will forever be the girl who called the police in the middle of the party and no one bothered to look up the reason behind the call.

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People can learn to grow. People don’t stay the same for all of their life. They experience life to grow and change with it. In the book Speak the character Melinda was sexually assaulted and she had to learn how to grow and accept that it wasn't her fault. The people in her life also grew and changed for the better when they knew the real reason she called the cops on the party.

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After randomly selecting a piece of paper that has the word “tree” printed on it, Mr. Freeman states that she had just chosen her destiny. At first, she expresses her confusion as to why something so simple could be so important, but throughout the book her interpretation of trees changes in order to portray a theme of depression. For instance, when Melinda first began painting trees they all appeared to be “nearly dead, but not totally,” and some had even “been hit by lightning” (Anderson 30). The idea that Mr. Freeman presented that the tree is supposed to represent Melinda along with the fact that they’re on the verge of death shows us how she is really feeling on the inside.

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But after the rape, Melinda is not happy with anything in her life and she is always stressed out. This is represented when she states, “But when I try to carve it, it looks like a dead tree, toothpicks, a child’s drawing. I can’t bring it to life. I’d love to give it up” (78). Melinda has changed dramatically, and this is represented by the tree she sees versus the tree she tries to make.

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Speak Journal Response This journal is in response to the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. As a coming-of-age contemporary novel, Speak discusses many sensitive issues that are still prominent even today. In this story, we explore the life of Melinda Sordino, a fourteen-year-old girl who is beginning high school right after experiencing an utterly traumatic event: rape. Melinda is left friendless, with no one to help and support her after what happened.

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Art is way of expression. People can use actions and art or express themselves in ways other than speaking. In the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, symbolism holds a big significance. The trees mentioned throughout the book symbolize Melinda’s changing “seasons” (her “growing” as a person). People, like trees, go through phases, they freeze in the winter, becoming nothing but lonely limbs without leaves covered with white slush.

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