The Maple Tree

Trees stand there, not saying a word, frozen. Melinda doesn’t talk a substantial amount in her class and social life, therefore, it is like she is frozen, not speaking. A dead tree can represent how Melinda wasn’t able to speak, the leaves on the dead tree are still clinging onto it, hoping it can live longer. Like that, Melinda would cling onto the idea that she would return to her happy self, maybe being able to freely express herself again. During Melinda’s science class, she draws a willow tree drooping into the water, this represents her sadness. “I look out the window. No limos... Now when I really want to leave, no one will give me a ride. I sketch a willow tree drooping into the water” (page 147). This shows how the willow tree expresses her negative emotion without saying a word. When Melinda’s dad was chopping down their tree; of course, it couldn’t say anything because it is only a tree. “ He is killing the tree... The tree is dying... There’s nothing to do or say. We watch in silence as the tree crashes piece by piece to the damp ground,” (page 187). This shows that when Melinda got raped, she did not say anything, instead she was dying inside, depression taking over. A tree in its various stages was an object that describes Melinda’s freshman year from the beginning to the

| “Nothing endures, not a tree, not love, not even a death by violence.” Ch. 1, Pg. 14

I feel a light tap on my shoulder as my brother, Andrew, pulls me out of my gaze. I look around, noticing the cars not in motion anymore. "We're here," Dad says, turning the car off. Shoving my phone into my pocket with the headphones wrapped sloppily around it, I focus on the house in front of us. I have only seen pictures of it on the housing website dad purchased it from. It doesn't look much different; it's still small with two stories and ugly green shutters to match the tan siding. The only thing I like about it is the small bushes lining the front. Mom used to spend hours shaping the ones at

“’The next time you work on your trees, don’t think about trees. Think about love, or hate, or joy, or pain – whatever makes you feel something, makes your palms sweat, or your toes curl. Focus on that feeling.’”(122) In the book speak there are many examples of symbolism. The one that stands out the most is the tree as it is mentioned very frequently in almost every chapter of the book. It represents that growth that she goes through as a character from the beginning of the book to the end and her mental recovery after the traumatic event of being raped. The different representations we see of the tree correspond with the state she is in and the emotions she is feeling at that part in the book. When she is struggling with her life she

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."

Trees are important not only physically but also spiritually and for many this fact is lost. Physically trees provide humans with beauty and a healthy ecosystem. Spiritually trees provide humans a connection to nature. Their importance has been lost in our modern times as humans further separate themselves from nature. While forgotten by many, their actions still resonate. The two modern poems “The Tree Agreement” by Elise Paschen and “Living Tree” by Robert Morgan trumpet the value trees hold in comparable ways. In the poem “The Tree Agreement” the speaker argues for the benefits of the Siberian Elm against a disagreeing neighbor. By structuring the poem in this manner, the poet highlights how people are blind to the services trees provide while simultaneously highlighting said services. The tree is portrayed almost as a friend or ally to the speaker. The speaker describes not only to the significance of the tree to humans like the neighbor and the speaker but also to the other living creatures surrounding them. The poem “Living Tree” focuses on the actions performed by trees in cemeteries. This poem follows a more spiritual route when compared to Paschen’s poem. This poem describes the process those who have been buried go through and the role trees play in this process. The trees in this poem are portrayed as lightning rods for the chemicals and spirits of the dead. This relationship is portrayed positively, as the trees are a monument to the passing of life. These poems

At first, her father decides to have it removed, but later, he realizes that the tree can be salvaged. He tells Melinda, “Those branches were long dead from disease. All plants are like that. By cutting off the damage, you make it possible for the tree will be the strongest on the block” (187). The phrase “long dead from disease” symbolizes Melinda’s isolation and silence because of the rape. Additionally, the words “you make it possible for the tree to grow again” implies that she can change and heal in the future. Moreover, “strongest on the block” suggests that Melinda can become more confident in herself, or even more powerful than everyone around her. This example portrays Melinda’s decline and her possible

It is true that we cannot take our worldly possessions with us after we leave this world. Thus, deciding which possessions are worth fighting for is something most people grapple with in their lives. Because mortgage bills and other financial responsibilities have the power to cripple a family’s finances, the story of the family portrayed by Mary Oliver in “The Black Walnut Tree” that decides to keep a Walnut Tree instead of paying off their mortgage is endearing and relatable. The use of communal diction, simile, and personification convey the relationship between the tree and the family as invaluable and indispensable.

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.

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

In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda, a high school freshman, is given the assignment of working with a tree as her object for the year in Mr. Freemans’s art class. She thinks,

When Melinda draws the word tree she says “Tree? It’s too easy” (Anderson, p.12). Melinda thought that making an art project of a tree that had emotion would be easy. She came to find out that it was harder than she had expected. After a week of trying to create her tree out of watercolors, Melinda creates trees that have been hit by lightning. She tries to “paint them so they are nearly dead, but not totally” (Anderson, pp.30-31). This statement reflects how Melinda feels towards life. After she was raped, she felt as if she was dead. She had no one to confide in and all her friends, and even people who were not her friends, were angry with her for calling the cops. She did not have the courage to tell them the reason she called the cops, because she feared they would no longer think of her the same way. Because of this, Melinda lived a lonely life with no one to talk to. She was not completely dead, but was not living her life to the fullest either. The trees she painted with watercolor are a representation of how she sees her

The house sat on the mostly yellow, dead grass of street in Perry Iowa. It of course held memories just like many other houses, but this one tried hard to forget the memories. It was once a yellow like the dead grass it sits upon now. The newly painted blue on the house was a fresh start to the house – making new memories – but just like the ones forgotten they drown in the blue color. It’s an unforgettable house, unforgettable like the memories it produced.

Alice Walker once said, “In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.” This aligns perfectly with metaphors in the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. In this story, Laurie uses the symbol of a tree to represent the main character, Melinda, as she struggles to overcome a difficult experience in her life. The trees represent Melinda’s transformation from trying to be someone she wasn’t, to becoming utterly depressed, to overcoming her pain, and being a happy, refreshed person.

The tree symbolizes Melinda directly . During the time that her tree looks un-lifelike, or is portrayed as dead, Melinda is going through the roughest time of her depression. After Melinda mentally overcomes the rape and talks about it, her trees exhibit changes in appearance: “I look at my homely sketch. It doesn't need anything… it isn’t perfect and that makes it just right.” (198).