Character Analysis: Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

The mood of the speaker changes to guilt as the speaker and her mother realize they would "crawl" with "shame" and leave an "emptiness" in their father's heart and yard. The author negatively connotes "crawl," "shame," and "emptiness" to invoke a more serious and shameful tone. The beginning of the conveyed a more matter-of-fact and pragmatic tone, but changes into a more sentimental one by the end to convey family is more important than the money. The symbol of the tree represents the family, and connects it to their father's hard work and dedication to the family. If they were to cut it down, it would be symbolic of their betrayal. Imagery of the tree is used to describe the freedom and beauty of the tree as it "swings through another year of sun and leaping winds, of leaves and bounding fruit." The tree represents their family bond and how strong it is even through the "whip-crack of the mortgage."

Ironically, the person Melinda finds as the outlet to help her express her feelings is her art teacher, Mr. Freeman. In a class assignment, Melinda is assigned to create an art project based on a tree. She begins to express her inner angst through this art project. At one point, she uses dried bones to sculpt a picture of a skeleton. Then she glues broken knives and forks to the project so that the bones look like the plastic utensils are stabbing them. It is a grim depiction of how Melinda feels, and is immediately praised by Mr. Freeman.

The diction in the excerpt is an essential component to the dramatization of the plot’s central incident. Jewett uses rich language to intensify the simple nature of the main character Sylvia’s journey up a “great pine-tree.” For example, in describing the tree, the narrator uses personification as he mentions the “huge tree asleep yet in the paling moonlight.” The use of personification harkens back to those universal moments in childhood in which everything alive had human feelings, and creates an emotional attachment between the reader and the tree. Jewett also uses other figurative language, like similes, to relate the grandeur of the tree to the audience. She writes, “It [the tree] was like a great main-mast to the voyaging earth…” In comparing the tree to the great mast of a ship, the author invokes feelings of awe at its size.

The oak tree is used to symbolize Ethan in the novel. The connection can be seen by comparing the characteristics of each. The Oak tree is seen by the characters in the novel as a solid, unchanging, and immovable object. The same can be said about Ethan. He has always has and probably always will live in Starkfield.

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is a story written in the first person about a young girl named Melinda Sordino. The title of the book, Speak, is ironically based on the fact that Melinda chooses not to speak. The book is written in the form of a monologue in the mind of Melinda, a teenage introvert. This story depicts the story of a very miserable freshman year of high school. Although there are several people in her high school, Melinda secludes herself from them all. There are several people in her school that used to be her friend in middle school, but not anymore. Not after what she did over the summer. What she did was call the cops on an end of summer party on of her friends was throwing. Although

At first she tries her hardest to make it look like a tree but it never comes out to look like a good one. The art teacher had said “you will spend the rest of the year learning how to turn your object into a piece of art” (12,Anderson) which means the object is going to be growing like how Melinda is growing by the end of the year. Her growth is shown through this tree as she continues to redraw it and gets better at drawing towards the end of the story. The tree is a symbol of Melinda getting stronger and becoming able to communicate her

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, trees symbolize Melinda’s growth throughout her life to stay sane and pass the horrific time of her life. Depression is her first phase, when she starts to paint the trees that were hit by lightning. It is also shown by her not talking to many people. She starts to realize that she cannot be perfect when she imagines a beautiful oak tree but really cannot carve it properly. Her third phase comes when the trees outside her house has a few sick branches and she decides to let go of the present Melinda who is not letting her grow and nurture the old Melinda, the one before the party, the fun and outgoing one. The last phase, and tree was the one she drew for

Speaking out is a tough task for many people that have dealt with horrible, traumatic situations. In the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character, Melinda, is one of those people who lost their voice. To be able to understand another person’s emotions, feelings, and situations is very difficult to do, especially because of how our society has formed and became a very judgmental place. Melinda Sordino starts her freshman year at Merryweather High School in Syracuse, New York, to a terrible start; she is a victim of a sexual assault and loses her confidents and voice to speak out. The more she interacts and makes new friends is how she starts to reach out and become more self-sufficient. Few weeks into school Melinda’s only

Have you ever drawn a picture to express something, or just drawn it for fun? Well Melinda uses her drawings to express her feelings and get away from the world. I think the in the story “SPEAK,” by Laurie Halse Anderson, She uses Melinda's artwork and the tree to express the fact that Melinda got raped and afterwards, when she looked up... and saw... a tree.

Melinda Sordino, the character in the novel Speak, written by Laurie Halse Anderson. She is an outcast, coward, and a negative person. Melinda Sordino is an outcast. '' Or I could crawl behind the trash can. Or maybe I could dump my lunch straight into the trash and keep moving right on out the door '' (Anderson 8). This quotation clearly demonstrates that Melinda is an outcast. She cannot even think a person she could sit. On the first day, Melinda gets into the auditorium and everyone divides into their clans. She used to be a part of the Plain Janes but now she labelled herself an outcast, she is clanless. Melinda does not see the point in finding her ex-friends. She knows it is not going to work. The only student talks to her as a friend is Heather, new to here, but she

Melinda was an outcast and loner in high school who was overwhelmed, fearful, and confused with her life and her environment at school. She was always silent in class and afraid to speak in front of people. Many students today might feel the need to fit in with other people so they wouldn’t have to be looked down upon. As we take a look at Melinda’s life we’ll be able to see how she handles her daily conflicts. In the book, Speak, Melinda Sordino, an incoming freshman at Merryweather High, starts her year off with a terrible start. She’s stuck with a mean history teacher, by who she calls Mr. Neck and a whole bunch of other weird teachers like her English teacher of who she calls, Hairwomen, because of her crazy, uncombed

Trees and plants represent life in the novel which ties into the overarching theme of the dehumanization that comes from slavery. Many of the characters in Beloved have been subjected to awful events causing them to feel as if they were worse than animals. Because of this, many characters look to the beauty of nature and trees in particular, to help them heal from their time in slavery. For example, Baby Suggs decided to preach in a place called The Clearing, which is surrounded by tall trees. "In the Clearing, Sethe found Baby's old preaching rock and remembered the smell of leaves simmering in the sun, thunderous feet and the shouts that ripped pods off the limbs of chestnuts. With Baby Suggs' heart in charge, the people let go." (Morrison 94) Another example of trees bringing healing to the characters in the novel is the arrival of Beloved. “A fully dressed woman walked out of the water. She barely gained the dry bank of the stream before she sat down and leaned against a mulberry tree.”(Morrison 60) This tree represents a chance at a new life for Beloved and also offers Sethe a chance to heal. Ever since killing her child, Sethe has been haunted over her decision and she is finally able to confront her past with the appearance of

The tree in Speak symbolizes Melinda’s emotional state when at first she finds no meaning in drawing the tree then she finds the courage to speak up about her rape experience. As Melinda is starting her artistic path, Mr. Freeman says his opinion on her artwork and she develops an understanding that her art work could compare to her life.

Moreover, this drawing of the tree is representative of the mind growth of Melinda. For instance, the drawing was poorly drawn at the beginning of the book, Melinda’s pressure and her life were weighing her down. As the drawing got better throughout the school year, Melinda’s strength and mindset also began to get better as well. If the tree meant “to shelter”, then Melinda sure developed a very nice shelter for herself in the end.

The author gives many examples that show the initiation and the road of trials of Sylvia climbing the tree. One example is, ?a bird fluttered off its nest, and a red squirrel ran to and fro and scolded pettishly at the harmless housebreaker.? The author uses the word housebreaker as Sylvia saying that she is invading the animals that live on the tree and the animal think that she is an enemy. The author also uses simile to make the tree alive. The author wrote, ?The sharp dry twigs caught and held her and scratched her like angry talons.? The author compares the tree to a talon. The author?s language greatly compares Sylvia and the tree that make this story a dramatic adventure. The passage says that Sylvia has thin little fingers clumsy and stiff compares to the tree?s great stem. Sylvia did not give up and she climbs until it was morning, the tree was amazed at the determined spark of human