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Summary Of Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

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he novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, focuses on the story of a high school freshman, Melinda Sordino, who is struggling to overcome a sexual assault that happened during a party over the summer. Melinda then called the cops, subsequently shutting down the party. Her actions result in her friends abandoning her and the rest of the school viewing her negatively, as no one else knows the real reason as to why she called the police. Due to the trauma she experienced, she stops speaking and becomes maladjusted and deeply depressed. She has no one to talk to about what happened at the party, causing her to lose all motivation for her classes, except for art. She has been assigned the subject of a tree to explore for the whole year, and the images she struggles to create are representative of the confusion and darkness within her. Anderson equates Melinda to a tree throughout the novel, using the symbol to document Melinda’s journey to …show more content…

She has yet to learn to grow, like the seed she found in biology class. Melinda is given an apple to dissect. When she cuts it up to the core, she finds a seed that is trying to grow into a tree, reaching up into the air, ¨An apple tree growing from an apple seed growing in an apple¨ (67). The new growth of the seed is what Melinda must do if she wants to move on and be happy. She must tear the problem down, reveal the center, and find a new growth within to nurture. Meanwhile, in art class, Melinda still does not know how to draw the tree she sees in her mind, the “strong old oak tree with a wide scarred trunk and thousands of leaves reaching to the sun¨ (78). Using symbolism, Anderson displays the person Melinda could be, the image of the strong tree, while also keeping Melinda the person she is now, struggling and ruining linoleum blocks with failed carvings of the simple trees she cannot get

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In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, she is trying to say that friends and friendships change over time. The first change that we found out about in the book was the group the Plane Janes that Melinda was in and they were best friend but they split over the summer, which was a change in a big group of friends. A second change between friendships was Ivy and Melinda they were apart of the Plane Janes but were never close until the ending of the school year. They were in the same art class which made them become close, through their artwork, which was a good change of friendship.

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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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Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson shows us the life of a young teenager with her mouth tied shut. The name of this teenager is Melinda Sordino, Melinda has grown significantly from the beginning to the end of Speak. Throughout all of this there have been three main symbols, a mirror, trees, and an old janitor's closet. These symbols expressed the importance of self-esteem, overcoming obstacles, and sanctuary.

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Kayley Flores English pre ap- 1st period Part 1- précis Speak by Laurie Anderson is a young adult fiction book that takes place freshman year at school in New York. The novel is circled around Melinda Sordino, the protagonist, and Andy Evans, the antagonist. The conflict happens because Melinda called the cops at a summer party. She struggles to make friends and speak up about what really happened that night during the school year. Summer is getting closer, so Melinda decides to get her stuff out of the janitor’s closet where then she is confronted by Andy.

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Melinda thinks that her drawings are bad and have no value. Melinda feels like the tree because Melinda

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There are many themes that are presented in the book Speak, such as to not be afraid to speak up about the truth. In the book, Melinda is a freshman in high school that is now an outcast after she called the cops on an end-of-summer party last summer. But there is more to the story. Last summer at the party, a guy named Andy Evans raped her. But no one knows the truth except Melinda.

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As Melinda starts to heal, her trees start to look more lively and put together. Compared to when she couldn't even draw a tree at the beginning of the year. Her strength also shined through her artwork. She could imagine the tree almost perfectly in her head, but she couldn't put it on paper. On page 78 of the book Melinda stated, “I can see it in my head: a strong old oak tree with a wide scarred trunk and thousands of leaves reaching to the sun.”

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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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This emphasises the enormity of the task Ofelia is about to embark upon and also her vulnerability as the tree’s dominating presence fills the frame. The fig tree itself is symbolic in its representation. Firstly, the entrance of the tree resembles that of a female’s ovaries, with its curved branches replicating the fallopian tubes. Moreover, the tree’s sickened state mirrors Ofelia’s pregnant mother’s own fragile condition.

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She at first thinks the task of drawing a tree is easy, but she soon realizes it is harder than it seems. Melinda can easily picture a tree in her mind, but she can not draw it. This relates to Melinda before and after she was raped by Andy Evans. Before the rape, Melinda is represented by the tree when she says, “I can see it in my head: a strong old oak tree with a wide scarred trunk and thousands of leaves reaching to the sun”(78). Melinda was completely fine before the rape occurred, and she was happy with herself and her surroundings.

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In the book, The House On Mango Street, symbolism is evident by the way the author writes. The symbols are used to express the way a character feels or to connect one thing to another. One of these major symbols are trees. Esperanza looks at different trees throughout the book in chapters “Four Skinny Trees” and “Meme Ortiz”, and claims them being a reflection of her. Trees symbolize a feeling of not belonging, finding strength, persevering, and doing something for the foundation of the future.

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The Power of Perseverance Throughout life, one must learn that in order to overcome challenges, they must keep sight of their goals and persevere in order to reach them. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith tells the story of a young girl named Francie growing up in an impoverished Brooklyn community in the early 1900s. Since a young age, Francie fantasizes about the other worlds s out there, it is through the observation of others and the books that she reads that she realizes that she must get out of her town in order to be happy. Many times throughout the book, it feels as though all odds are against her, like when she must drop out of high school to support her family.

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The novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is about a girl named Melinda, who shows signs of depression throughout the story. She has no friends and is hated by people she doesn’t even know. This is because she called the cops at a party, where she was raped. Anderson includes literary elements to show how Melinda is depressed. Throughout the novel, she uses many different literary elements to show Melinda’s conflict.

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892 Words | 4 Pages

She does not like any of her classes except for art. In art she has to pick a topic she gets at random. She gets “tree” and will have to create projects that incorporate a tree. As it turns out, that object isn’t just an art assignment. It actually ends up symbolizing Melinda’s journey through her freshman year.

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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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