Melinda's Use Of Art In Speak
There are specific people who helped her mature in a certain way. She slowly opens up over the course of the year with support from different people. There are several people in this novel who help Melinda find her “voice”. Mr. Freeman, for example, was an important part of Melinda’s growth. He is Melinda’s art teacher who came off as weird at first
In Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel, Speak, Melinda is a dynamic character whose behaviors, thoughts, and words change and reflect the theme of the novel, not to keep ones emotions bottled up. First, Melinda acts in a shy and quiet manner because she had got her friends into trouble when she called the cops at the party. However when Melinda begins to make her own choicesfor herself and not let her emotions get to her, she realizes she will not let other people make her own descions. This is evident when Anderson writes “I mean no I won`t help you” (Anderson 179). This shows how Melinda will not be walked on by her peers.
Throughout the course of the book Speak, she goes through ups and downs, but in the end she has gained enough confidence to stand up against the boy who raped her. Her art teacher and her are talking “Mr. Freeman: You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you? Me: Let me tell you about it” (Anderson, 198). The book ends with Melinda feeling
Speak, the story of Melinda Sordino, the girl without a voice. In speak the main protagonist, Melinda, has to go through high school with almost everyone in her school hating her because of a misunderstanding, she called the police on a summer party because she was sexually assaulted but never had the courage to say anything. Throughout the book the writer, Laurie Anderson uses trees to symbolize changes in Melinda’s life like (insert thing here), how Melinda needs to remove the “dead branches” from her life so she can move on and grow from her experiences, and how Melinda was finally able to “cut the dead branches” from her life and learn to speak up for herself. A good example of Melinda’s transformation is shown in this next quote. “He’s
To summarize, in the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, she shows Melinda as a helpless person at the beginning of the school year. By the end Mr.Freeman helped her find her voice and one of her old friends. She also stands up for herself against the guy who hurts her. Her let go friend is someone who thought she could win her back but she could not be Melinda 's friend after what
Melinda was less aware of the impact her teachers would have on her life, but received similar support to Anderson’s from her art teacher. After attempting to teach Melinda to use her voice through art, Mr. Freeman eventually tells her, “‘Melinda, [...] You're a good kid. I think you have a lot to say. I’d like to hear it’”
Throughout the story, the author foreshadows and hints that something tragic happens to Melinda at a party she attends in the summer. It is eventually revealed that Melinda is raped and that is why she called the police to the scene, and in the eyes of her friends crashes the party. However, her friends have no idea that she is raped and just believe she felt scared and called the police. In the first marking period, Melinda begins to open up to a teacher named Mr. Freeman. Mr. Freeman is Melinda’s art teacher.
Due to her inability to tell anyone what happened she loses the ability to speak and she starts distancing herself from her family and friends. Throughout the book, there are symbolic items that help us know how Melinda is feeling and they also represent the stages Melinda went through
This causes her to be unable to speak as normal and express herself only through self physical acts of hurting herself. However, through her pain, she begins to grow from a victim to a survivor and understands that the only way to go against evil is to speak out against it. Melinda in Speak is a high school freshman who is raped by Andy Evans who is a senior in high school. Due to him raping her she loses her ability to speak normally and say what she feels and how she feels. Melinda gains her confidence to speak in public freely again by the end of the story.
At the end of the story she finally found her voice and was able to stand up for herself. In the beginning, Melinda didn't talk to anyone, barely even to her parents. She says, “I have tried so hard to forget every second of that stupid party and here I am in the middle of a hostile crowd that hates me for what I had to do. I can't tell them what really happened” (Anderson, 28).
Melinda was able to speak at the end of the novel Speak by Laurie Hals Anderson, because she ultimately realized that she had the vital support surrounding her. At the beginning of the novel, Melinda has lost all of her friends due to a misunderstanding during the summer, however as the book moves along she establishes valuable connections with new and old people. Ivy and Melinda had gone through a troublesome time in their friendship, but by renewing the connection they had the past year, Melinda then had someone she knew she could trust. Ivy never bullied Melinda, but she grew apart from Melinda when Rachel and Nicole did, when Melinda sees Ivy and other “people [she] used to think were [her] friends, they look away” (9), however towards the end of the year Melinda starts to open up to Ivy about what happened over the summer by making her list of “Guys to Stay Away From” on the bathroom wall (175). Throughout the year it is present that Melinda and Ivy’s friendship evolves and Melinda is then able to trust Ivy with the truth.
Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” and Suzanne Collins’ novel The Hunger Games share a similar plotline, but have extremely contradictory moods. “The Lottery” is a short story by author Shirley Jackson that has a easygoing, casual mood despite its horrific plot. The text tells of a small village that holds a yearly ritual known as “The Lottery” in which one person is chosen at random and stoned to death. However, Jackson’s choice of words makes the reader feel calm and at ease. In the story’s opening, the day is described as “...clear and sunny with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green” (Jackson 1).
By gaining new allies and friends, finding a passion in art, and being able to express herself and confide in people, she becomes stronger. With this, the tone develops and changes while it slowly adapts when Melinda again talks about her closet saying, “I hang out in my refurbished closet. It is shaping up nicely… Maya Angelou’s picture watches me while I sweep and mop the floor, while I scrub the shelves, while I chase the spiders out of the corners. I do a little bit of work everyday…
Melinda, in a lot of ways, starts out like that it the book. She becomes a shell of herself from before the party happened and because no one else was there, she is lonely and doesn't have anybody to go to and to make matters even worse, she’s covered by the reputation that she has formed. In the book, Laurie Halse Anderson uses symbolism to convey exactly what Melinda can't say. In the beginning of the book, Melinda starts high school carrying her emotional wounds with her after something happens mysterious to her at a party during the summer.
I used Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT) techniques with some of my clients. I was not trained in this therapy but was familiar with the idea of being in the here-and-now. This technique worked for my schizophrenic client by keeping her focused on what was happening each day by writing in a journal and distracting her from what she thought had been happening in her past. I was able to use Art Therapy with the client I had with PTSD, depression, and suicidal thoughts. I had one client on probation who was ordered to be in counseling before she could get off of probation.
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