Melinda's To Create The Right Tree Character Analysis

Mr. Freeman backs up his praise by showing Melinda something about her work she herself might not be aware of. He tells her the truth as best as he can. She picks a piece of paper out of a globe for her project, and she has to draw a tree. Melinda thinks that the project is easy but the more times she draws the tree, the more she sees its that she can’t. The trees represent life and death.

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

Good morning/afternoon members of the curriculum board. My nam0065 is Liam Hayes and today im here today to give an analysis of the epic novel Cloudstreet to ensure an informed decision on the novel’s inclusion in the new text list. The family dynamics and the idea of the family unit in the novel reflect Australian society and values of the time, and has great historical relevance and important messages for today’s audience. Through the Pickles and the lambs, two completely different families, Australia is well represented through the relationship and problems surrounding the family which keep them together stronger than ever. The novel Cloudstreet demonstrates the problems that lead into separation within families, the novel is thoroughly

The tree represents Gene’s growth in maturity and age from being a teenager who is frightened by the magnitude of the tree to an adult who looks at it as unthreatening and small. Whilst revisiting the tree as an adult, Gene utters that the tree reminds him of the enemies of childhood that, once faced again, seem insignificant (14). When Gene is reflecting upon the first time he jumped off of the tree, he states the tree “flooded [Gene] with a sensation of alarm all the

To begin with, Melinda’s tree projects are a symbol to Melinda. The drawing of the tree with a dead limb symbolizes its ability to regrow. Melinda needs to “regrow” her confidence, mental stability, and ability to be social. Trees symbolize change because they grow, lose their leaves, and eventually regrow their leaves, relating to Melinda because her character grows throughout the book. The final tree project at the end of the story shows Melinda’s determination, her growth, recognition of damage, and acceptance of what happened to her. (pgs. 30-31, pgs. 196-198)

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.

Cutting down the tree represents a new beginning for Melinda it gets rid of the old worn out “dying parts” and replaces it with a clean slate. One example from the text is “He's not chopping it down. He's saving it. Those branches were long dead from disease. All plants are like that. By cutting off the damage, you make it possible for the tree to grow again. You watch--by the end of summer, this tree will be the strongest on the block."(187). This quote directly correlates to Melinda because her “tree” will be the strongest on the block because she will regain herself confidence that she once had before the incident. Now rather than having the whole school frown upon Melinda she has the entire schools sympathy and support. Since, Melinda has revealed what happened at the incident now everything will change positively. Another incident of growth in Melinda was when Melinda finishes her drawing of the tree on the last day of school. Melinda's tree finally is able to grow fundamentally and also in real life. Melinda states “My tree is definitely breathing little shadow breaths like it just shot up through the ground this morning”(196.) Her tree does finally grow in her art class but the major point is now she can breath. She can grow again rather than being stuck in her own thoughts all alone. Now she has support and the foundations to make her tree finally

“You’re going to have to grow up sometime” something my mother still says to me now, even having turned 21 this year. I feel grown up simply because of my age but am I truly? Sure, the exciting times of living on your own, staying up as late as you want, and voting would qualify you as a grown up but honestly being an adult can be a bit of a bummer sometimes. Responsibilities, jobs, and bills; they’re all inevitable. However, we are fortunate enough to experience nostalgia or remember ‘the good old days’, reminiscing on events that remind us of childhood, a time when you hardly had to worry about anything other than your mom finding out that you got your brand new pants dirty after she told you not to wear them outside to play. But it’s hard

In the beginning of the book, Melinda is assigned to draw a tree in art class. First Melinda goes to art class and gets a simple tree to draw. “Tree. Tree? It’s too easy” (p.12).

(AGG) When losing someone you dearly love, your world is turned around, Nusrat shows us her journey through loss and healing in the chapters of this novel. (BS-1) First, Nusrat loses her sister, Margaret, and struggles after losing someone so close to her to later question her religion. (BS-2) Then, Nusrat disconnects with her parents slowly after she converts to Islam and begins to start a new life. (BS-3) Lastly, At the end Nusrat loses her husband, Faiz and begins to reconnect her relationship with her parents. (TS) In the novel Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples, Nusrat loses multiple important people who understand her the most, she has to cope with living without the people who have had such a positive impact on her

The tree Melinda is assigned in art class symbolizes her and how she changes dramatically, for better or worse, throughout the book. In the near beginning Melinda draws trees that have been struck by lighting, the trees are dark, broken down and weary to symbolize how Melinda is feeling at this point. A great example of this is when Melinda says “For a solid week, ever since the pep rally, I’ve been painting watercolors of trees that have been hit by lightning. I try to paint them so they are nearly dead, but not totally. Mr. Freeman doesn’t say a word to me about them. He just raises his eyebrow. One picture is so dark you can barely see the tree at all” (Anderson 30). This symbolizes how she is going through a period in her life where she

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

The trees in the book are the most conspicuous symbols. They appear in virtually every chapter of the book and they symbolise life and progress for Melinda. At the beginning, Melinda sets out to draw trees for a project that will take a year. She initially struggles to draw the trees that would realistically thrive but instead gets frustrated thinking she would not be able to make the trees flourish. As such, trees represent Melinda’s misery. The cutting of a dead branch from a tree in a bid to save the tree is symbolic in the sense that the dead branch represents Melinda’s pain and despair which threatens to thwart the entire project unless she overcomes her misery. The flourishing trees later on symbolise Melinda’s recovering

You can tell the mother is reluctant by the way she says “the leaves of the tree are getting heavier…and the fruit harder to gather away” her tone enforces that she thinks of the tree as a burden not a family heirloom. However, as much as diction is used to convey how the family regards the tree as a difficult responsibility to manage, the vivid imagery found throughout the piece also

The tree was delicate. Slim slightly gnarled trunk, branches that looked like worms after the rain, crooked and lanky. Like the branches were hesitant to grow, hesitant to be strong, hesitant to move on with life. Like me. The leaves were the color of expired jello in Catrina’s refrigerator, or a polluted pond.