ipl-logo

The Symbolism Of Trees In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

524 Words3 Pages

Trees have been used throughout the years to symbolize many different things. A popular one is that trees represent life overall. This meaning has been around for many years and goes across many different cultures. However, trees have had many other meanings. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, she uses trees to represent different life traits that the main character, Melinda, learns throughout the book. One life trait represented by trees in the book is resiliences. For example, Mr. Freeman tells Melinda to “Make it bend—trees are flexible, so they don’t snap” (Anderson 153). Basically, Mr. Freeman is saying that trees have to be able to adapt in hard times or they will snap in half and die. The author includes this quote to emphasize Melinda is struggling to overcome a tragic event that has happen to her. She is almost not able to keep herself from breaking in two. As one can see Melinda, like trees, has to be resilient to problems in her life in order to survive. …show more content…

For instance, in the text it states, “this looks like a tree, but it is an average, ordinary, everyday, boring tree. […] Scar it, give it a twisted branch—perfect trees don’t exist. Nothing is perfect. Flaws are interesting” (Anderson 153). In other words, the text is saying that no tree is perfect. They all are unique in their own way and that is what makes them fascinating. From this a person can infer that the tree relates to Melinda. She believes that there is something wrong with her and she is the reason why no-one likes her. To sum up, Melinda is in a desperate need to be able to accept herself with the scars of the past because they make her who she

Show More
Related
608 Words | 3 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)  

Read More
786 Words | 4 Pages

The well-known Christian author once wrote, "Consider a tree for a moment. As beautiful as trees are to look at, we don't see what goes on underground - as they grow roots. Trees must develop deep roots in order to grow strong and produce their beauty. But we don't see the roots. We just see and enjoy the beauty.

Read More
1096 Words | 5 Pages

But like her tree she has no idea how to feel like she is living, not just surviving. The tree is changing as she is because the tree is a perception of her emotions, and who she is doing throughout the

Read More
736 Words | 3 Pages

Furthermore, Melinda had admitted that she could “[feel] the wind blow and hear the mockingbird whistling on the way back to her nest. But when [she tries] to carve it, it looks like a dead tree, toothpicks, a child’s drawing. [She cannot] bring it to life” (78). She wistfully imagines confessing her distress, but she remains reluctant and retreats from transitioning into speaking again. There are many moments within the novel where Anderson uses symbolism to illustrate Melinda's desire to refurbish her life as this one, but it is hard for Melinda to do so without the choice of acknowledging what happened.

Read More
729 Words | 3 Pages

One of Laurie Halse-Anderson’s motifs that connect with the theme is Melinda’s tree. For example, Melinda’s introduction with the tree was in the first day of Art class. “I plunge my hand into the bottom of the globe and fish out my paper. ‘Tree.’

Read More
713 Words | 3 Pages

In Mary Pipher’s passage, Saplings in The Storm, Pipher claims that young big-hearted girls are changing as they age. She claims that the nature and source of these problems come from the fairy tales, which capture the essence of change, and approval of others. The elements of language that she uses are tone and rhetorical devices. This passage is made in order to appeal to the audience about the situation and to get them interested in the situation. As adolescent girls grow up they start to lose their inner kid that was once inside them.

Read More
403 Words | 2 Pages

Mr. Freeman realizes, unlike Melinda, that the tree is much like a human. He tells Melinda to “[b]reathe life into it. Make it bend - trees are flexible, so they don't snap. Scar it, give it a twisted branch - perfect trees don't exist. Nothing is perfect.

Read More
861 Words | 4 Pages

But I can't think of anything else to do, so I keep chipping away at it”(Anderson 78). This response shows that her art project is failing miserably. This also is the same for many aspects of her life at the time. Her social life, family life, and academics are all dying just like her tree. Then, when she tries to restart her tree sculpture, she describes her old tree like old things in her life.

Read More
1222 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
716 Words | 3 Pages

“Mom and Dad smiled at each other and laughed. It was a sound that Tree hadn’t heard from them in the longest time” (132). This shows how Tree wasn’t sure his parents were ever going to get along again, but they end up having a good time. This is an example of how family matters most and hope is always around. This situation gave Tree strength to preserve.

Read More
805 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
756 Words | 4 Pages

This passage from “A white Heron”, by Sarah Orne Jewett, details a short yet epic journey of a young girl, and it is done in an entertaining way. Jewett immediately familiarizes us with our protagonist, Sylvia, in the first paragraph, and our antagonist: the tree. However, this is a bit more creative, as the tree stands not only as an opponent, but as a surmountable object that can strengthen and inspire Sylvia as she climbs it. This “old pine” is described as massive, to the point where it, “towered above them all and made a landmark for sea and shore miles and miles away.” (Line 8).

Read More
647 Words | 3 Pages

Take a look at an apple tree, the tree lives in the perfect world, growing in a stable environment, compared to the struggling world that the Joshua tree undergoes. In the book “The Glass Castle” written by Jeannette Walls, the following quote took my interest and sparked great wisdom. “Mom frowned at me. “You’d be destroying what makes it special,” she said. “It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it its beauty.

Read More
1197 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
933 Words | 4 Pages

Into The Woods The musical “Into the Woods” by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine is a metaphor for life in many ways, but the most prominent one is the woods symbolizing life itself. The prologue song “Into The Woods” is about each of the character’s dreams and wishes. Cinderella wishes to go to the festival, Little Red Riding Hood wants to deliver bread to Granny, and the Baker and his wife want to have a child, even though the witch cursed their lineage.

Read More

More about The Symbolism Of Trees In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

Related Topics

Open Document