There are people in our lives who have helped us grow. In the summer before freshman year in high school Melinda Sordino was raped at a party. After calling the police she was left without friends or dignity. She isolates herself not knowing what to do. In Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda grows in many ways throughout the book.
In much the same way, what goes on inside of us is like the roots of a tree. " When reading the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, the reader will steadily notice that, as the story goes on, Melinda's artistic abilities will improve. In this essay, I will explain how trees are used to portray Melinda's transformation, by using quotes from the text and support to back it up. In her first Art class, Melinda randomly chooses the "tree" as the object she will try to draw for the rest of her school year.
The book Speak is a book written by Laurie Halse Anderson, it is about a young girl named Melinda Sordino and is about a very serious and all too common issue: rape and depression. Rape is a serious problem, it can completely destroy a person, making them never the same again. Depression is always an uphill battle and is even worse when your friends turn their back on you and your family does not notice something is seriously wrong with you. Melinda was a young girl enjoying life until an older boy named Andy Evans took advantage of his size and raped her.
Imagine being through a traumatic event and didn’t know how to tell someone, or maybe not had anyone to talk to about how you were feeling? That's how Melinda Sordino felt as the main character in the book Speak by Halse Anderson. Melinda was going through the hells of highschool alone after being raped at a party, and ditched by all of her friends who she thought cared about her. She is bullied, harassed, picked on, and failing all of her classes. Except for art class where she finds the only place that she feels safe anymore.
Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle (Napoleon Hill). In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the tree is an important symbol of growth and courage through difficult times. The main character, Melinda, went through a series of unfathomable events over the summer that put her into a troublesome position. She was raped by a boy named Andy at a party while she was drunk. Scared and confused, she called the cops to come help her, resulting in her losing all her friends.
Did you know that only 310 out of every 1,000 sexual assaults are reported? Melinda was one of the 690 people that didn’t report her sexual assault. Speak was about this girl named Melinda and she had something happen to her right before school started and she didn’t tell anyone. Then as the school year progressed she wasn’t making any friends and even the only friend she had unfriended her. THen at the end she finally told someone.
Friendship is like a rollercoaster. There are ups and downs, but in the end you will always have fun. In the book Speak, The main character is shown as an outcast archetype. In most novels with the Hero’s Journey the main character is portrayed as a hero, making this book unique and unlike others. An outcast is a person who has been rejected by society or a social group.
One out of every six women has been sexually assaulted either completed (14.8%) or attempted (2.8%) in her entire lifetime. Imagine of the those women was a 15 year old girl attending high school, who had a lot to offer, but was periodically silenced, while battling a mental illness in a fictional novel called Speak. The novel speak and the articles we read outside of class have a lot in common including sexual assault stereotypes, sexual violence statistics, and mental illness. Next, I will compare the character Melinda with the four articles. During the book speak, the main character Melinda can be described as a “perfect victim”.
The theme of self growth and isolation can be seen throughout the novel Speak (1999) by Laurie Halse Anderson, which follows the main protagonist, Melinda Sordino through her freshman year. When Melinda is first introduced, she mentions a secret that she is afraid to talk to anyone about. Melinda later reveals to the readers that she was raped by a high school senior at an end of summer party. Everyone at school acts hostile towards Melinda for calling the cops and ruining what was the best night of their lives, unbeknown to them, that night still haunts her dreams. This causes Melinda to become isolated from everyone, as they only see her as the freak who called the cops.
One will eventually come across the day where they are able to figure out who they truly are as a person. A discovery like this will lead to new chapters of life and start new beginnings. Although finding one 's identity can be difficult to understand and accept, it is crucial in life to discover oneself. In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, a teenage girl, who had to overcome and deal with an awful tragedy, takes readers on the long journey she walked before finding meaning and value in who she is as a person.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson was a surprisingly explosive novel, and was not something that I was expecting. The novel initially begins with the introduction of a young girl named Melinda, roughly aged thirteen or fourteen, as she had just began high school as a freshman. However we get this introduction of her character not by dialogue as most books do, but simply by Melinda's thoughts and narration. In fact, throughout the novel, rarely does Melinda speak aloud, which I felt added a great ironic effect to the title. Why does she not like to speak?
In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the protagonist, Melinda, is assigned to create a tree a million different ways all year. In doing so she finds ways to convey her emotions through her drawings. There are many different types of trees in the world. A tree that shows symbolism and draws emotion out of me would have to be a weeping willow tree. The weeping willow tree is elegant, girly, but has a tragically beautiful side to it.
The Voice of Silence “I have nothing. I say nothing. I am nothing.” (Anderson, 116) Rape is a horrible, violent, vicious crime. In Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda fell victim to this brutal act before she even entered high school.
A symbol is a representation of something. A symbol is often a material or object signifying something abstract. In the novel speaks by Laurie Hassle Anderson, the use of symbolism helps the reader better understand the inner working of the main character. Laurie uses mirrors, blood, a Maya Angelo poster, seeds, plants, and trees to help the reader better understand Melinda. Mirrors.
Symbolism is the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character. In Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson uses literary devices to help the reader better understand Melinda’s personal changes and growth. Trees, lips, and coldness are all symbolically used to represent the changes of Melinda. Throughout the novel, trees play a big part in symbolizing Melinda. Melinda is constantly drawing and relating to trees in the book.
