How Does Laurie Halse Anderson Use Symbols In Speak

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

It does not let her feels and looks so stupid. After Heather joins in the Marthas, she blows Melinda off and Melinda is outcast again. The students hit Melinda in the hall; the girls' bully her at the pep rally all shows Melinda is an outcast, she is unwelcome. Melinda is a coward. "The kids behind me laugh so loud I know they're laughing at me. I can't help myself '' (Anderson 4). Melinda is a timid person. She scareds to tell the truth of that night, thus her friends cannot understand her difficulties. About the event happen at the party, she chooses to escape her past and become silent. Melinda does not talk a lot, either at school or at home to her parents. She acts like she does not care and hid from everyone. When someone bullies her, she just ignores them and suppresses her true feelings. Melinda is also a negative person. '' It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie'' (Anderson 9). From this quotation, it is evident to see Melinda is negative. Her thinking is negative and

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

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.

She is landing at terms with the last item for her. She understands that she needs to analyze what happened. Obviously, Melinda's fundamental inspiration for at last uncovering the conundrum is clear, and it says a remarkable course of action concerning her character. When she sees that Rachel, the pal who sold out her, is in threat of changing into Andy's next misfortune, she is obliged to talk. This display to us that Melinda is solid to their previous history, and that she contemplates the security of others. Considering, all things have an importance at some point or another it covers the epic or the repulsive thusly making it more basic than it is. In the event that you nonchalance to know, is to comprehend that you don't know anything. That is the true blue significance of information, so making everything the furthermore Intriguing and troublesome in her condition. The tree is the motivation driving why she developed her heading and talked up about her circumstance. Disregarding the way that nobody like Melinda she kept her soul solid And battled through her inconveniences of helper school. In this way, Melinda contacted her objective of swinging out to everybody about the bona, fide truly was, and what happened and ensuring everybody knew. Make a point to exhort individuals with respect to the truth of what occurred than enable bits of converse with make and escalate the

She describes her lips using very ugly words. These descriptions of Melinda's lips and mouth in the novel clarify Melinda’s inability to speak after the rape. Throughout the chapters of the story Melinda’s lips are described as cracked, pale, swollen and dry. Unlike any girl who consider her lips as a sign of beauty. The ugliness of her mouth represents the ugliness and shame she feels inside her mind as well as her inability to take care of herself. Later, as Melinda begins to heal and learns to speak about the rape, the state of her lips will

Self) She sees herself as an outcast. the internal conflict of Melinda Sordino I that she was raped and does not tell anyone about it, causing her to become depressed. Her parents realize that she acts differently at home, but Melinda does not tell the reason why. In the story, Melinda fears a guy named "IT", who we later on know as Andy Evans. And teases her in the story for example on page 97 he hands Melinda a donut saying, "What a bite?". He is obviously teasing her and Melinda makes it noticeable that she fears him by running away. The authors purpose is to show that Andy is the reason for Melinda's depression. She expresses this by having Melinda call Andy

Melinda got tired of living the pain. “Jeans that fit, that’s a good start. I have to stay away from the closet. I will make myself normal. Forget the rest of it,” (chapter 59, page 125). Melinda is tired of feeling stressed. She is growing as a person. She doesn’t want to be stuck in that situation anymore. She is now taking control because having flashbacks and trying to forget is not helping.

Melinda realizes that she has much more potential, places the past behind her, and begins to speak once more. Anderson's novel explores common teenage problems such as depression; Melinda exhibits external signs like cutting her wrist with a paperclip and biting her lip,

In the book “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson Melinda is going through a transformation, by explaining it in a form of trees. She is expressing herself not much by the form of speaking, but by the trees she creates in art class. It’s to explain on how she has been at her lowest and highest points in times. She faces all these transformations as from past events and future events in her high school. The majority of these events relate to her tree transformation from lowest to highest points.

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.

Melinda Sordino, the fourteen-year-old star of Speak, loses the capacity to convey after she is sexually struck at a gathering. Rather than standing up about the end result for her, she restrains her agony inside, trusting that on the off chance that she doesn't talk about it, she'll overlook the end result for her. Laurie Halse Anderson's intense novel takes after Melinda as she re-figures out how to talk. She discovers heaps of different astute methods of correspondence meanwhile. A portion of these are powerful, such as directing her feelings into workmanship and science. Others, such as sending trouble signs to the outside world by scratching her wrists, don't convey what she needs them to. She discovers that quiet has a place and a reason, yet that occasionally noisily, dangerous as it can be important. She changed her physical appearance and lost friends. She had bad lips and a weird body. She was

Why I think the tree represents her is because like every person we face battles and we need to outgrow them sooner or later in our lives. In the beginning Melinda is in her abyss and feels completely torn down by everything that has happened to her. On page 30 and 31 she can’t seem to stop drawing dull and dark trees as if she’s drawing exactly what

Throughout the novel, trees are symbolic of growth for Melinda. While Melinda struggles not only with being an outcast but having trouble with her assigned subject, she seeks help from Ivy, a new friend. Melinda claims “it was a mistake to sign up for art.” Ivy disagrees, and the girls “sit there trading pencils. [Melinda] draws a trunk, Ivy adds a branch. Melinda “starts to erase [her part]” but Ivy says “It is fine the way it is. It just needs some leaves, Layer the leaves and make them slightly different sizes and it will look great. [Melinda] has a great start. Melinda then says “She is right” (146). By working on her tree drawing together with Ivy, the tree is what strengthens and grows the girls’ bond as friends. Melinda’s confidence

Symbolism is utilized to advance the theme of Speak and The Third and Final Continent. Each of these literary works uses some type of symbolism as a way to develop their theme. Notably, in Speak, talking is used as a symbol of Melinda’s progress in moving past her rape. For example, in the beginning of the novel, the author wrote, “It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button your lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing yourself is a lie. Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say” (Halse Anderson 9). Explicitly stated, Melinda is bitter about her trauma, and (at this point) is far from moving past what had happened; she refuses to even acknowledge that speaking up about her rape could help. In contrast, during a scene towards the end of the novel, when Melinda’s rapist, Andy, is once again trying to