My Neighbor Totoro Animism

Trees represent her life because they aren’t simple. Trees are large and strong, their roots are in the ground and their leaves sway in the sky. At first, Melinda’s life was as solid as the tallest tree in the world. “This was the girl who suffered through Brownies with me, who taught me how

The symbol of the tree is a symbol for her. She is having to come to terms with what happened to her. She now realizes she has to speak up about what happened. David Petrakis contributes to Melinda’s quest in a number of ways. He talks to Melinda and encourages her to find her voice after the suffragette speech in their social studies class.

forest is like a best friend. It treats her as if she were one of its own. The

Like Francie, the tree remains constant, yet still changes every so slightly with Francie as she navigates childhood to young adulthood to adulthood. The tree proves to be as stubborn as Francie is, fighting through every season and gaining more strength on its journey. In harsh contrast, Johnny Nolan is an incredibly soft character, who Smith depicts almost in a weak way. Johnny does not have his limits when it comes to two of the great loves of his life: alcohol and daydreaming. Yes, it is Johnny who instills the naivety of daydreaming into Francie, helping her to be the innocent child the audience meets at the beginning of the story, but ultimately, his addictions lead to his demise. Thorough a vast array of characters, Smith creates a tale with a variety of morals, fears, and everything in

She sees her strength in the trees and the tree’s strength in her. Her ability to persevere and

In the book Speak the Trees describe life and growth for Melinda. In the beginning of the novel, Melinda is assigned to draw trees for a year long art project. She struggles to draw realistic trees, frustrated that she “can’t bring it to life”. This represents her depression and struggle. The tree symbolizes the danger Melinda’s faces in letting her pain overtake every aspect of her life. As Melinda begins to heal, her tree drawings become richer and more detailed, symbolizing her own growth.

The tree would love to play with the boy. From page 5 through 10 it shows how much the boy and the tree would play together. It shows all the things they would do when the boy was younger. "...he would gather her leaves and make them into crowns and play king of the forest. He would climb up her trunk and swing from her branches and eat apples. And they would play hide-and-go-seek." It is like how a mother and son play a lot together when he is young. All the things the boy and the tree would do, the mother and son do also. A mother also takes care of her child.

Fear is an existing emotion that begins in childhood and progresses into adulthood. Children ages zero to two fear separation of parents, loud noises, and strangers while three to six year olds fear imaginary beings such as ghost and monsters (Smith). It is understandable that fear progresses in one’s lifetime, morphing from childish fears into more real-like scenarios. Propaganda, especially during wartime, appealed more to the fears of adults, as artists were targeting that

What’s in the forest that could be dangerous? This is the questions that sends a pandemic of mass hysteria throughout the boy’s colony. “ ‘The beastie, the beastie or the snake thing was real, remember?’ The two older boys flinched when they heard the shameful syllable” (Golding 52). They learn about the beastie because a strange child comes out of the forest, and warns of a dangerous creature called “the beastie” that lives in the woods. This

The three friends followed and were even more surprised as to what they saw. One big tree with a huge hole in its trunk, it’s high up and almost to the top. A big burrow in the ground is at the foot of the tree and a doll house was hanging off of a branch.

“Mom frowned at me… that gives it its beauty.” (p. 38) When Jeannette devises a plan to uproot the Joshua tree, which has grown sideways in the direction of the constant wind that passes over it, her mother quickly dismisses the idea. Rose Mary claims that the tree is beautiful not because it grows straight like the other trees, but rather because its struggle defines it and makes it unique. Rose Mary is typically unwilling to tamper with nature and she is particularly drawn to the unique form of the Joshua Tree. Through the figure of the tree a young Jeannette learns an important lesson about non-conformity.

In the novel, Speak by Laurie Anderson, A Tree is a symbolism that represents Melinda's current moods and thoughts throughout the scenarios in the story. The main character traits of this story are Melinda's thoughts, emotions, and reactions to high school and within the people in it.

Animism is common among African and Native American religions. It is the belief that all of earth is alive even in the form of spirits or animals. This idea embraces harmony among all living things and that humans are essentially no better than say a fish. If the harmony becomes out of balance, sacrifice or ritual is often performed in order to restore the balance that has been lost. The Native Americans believe that the highest spirit lives in

In Sky land people were living as they do today on earth. In the center of this land existed a Sky tree that provided food for people in Sky land. Aataentsic, the old chief of Sky Lands wife , cuts down the tree to give the fruit that lies at the very top of the tree to heal her sick husband. However, as soon as she struck the tree, it spilt in half , toppled over and formed a hole in sky land. After the tree falls into the hole , Aataentsic belives that without that without the sky tree , there can be no life , therefore , Aataentsic follows the tree. After Aataentsic threw herself into the hole , turtle called together all the water animals to form an island on top of his back to save Aataentsic life as she gently settled on the new earth.

Animism derives from the Latin word anima which means soul, spirit, life or breath (Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) International, n.d.). Animism is the belief that non-living objects have souls (life) and those natural phenomena possess supernatural or magical power. Animism encompasses the beliefs that there is no separation between the spiritual and physical or material world. Animism believes that natural physical entities which include animals, plants, and even inanimate objects such as forest, mountains, rivers or village and phenomena possess a spiritual essence. Most Animists even be certain that human beings are spiritual at their core and they will become spirits too in the spirit world upon their physical death (Davis, 2011). The power of the spirits infuses everything. Therefore, the term “animism” can be summed up by “belief in spiritual beings”. It can also be summarized as “all that exists lives” and, sometimes, “all that lives is holy” (Taylor, 2005).