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Symbolism in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

• Categories: Book Review Speak Symbolism

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Published: Oct 2, 2020

Words: 449 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Works Cited:

• Clemmitt, M. (2014). Homeschooling. CQ Researcher, 24(42), 1005-1028.
• Liu, F., & Shrum, L. J. (2002). What is interactivity and is it always such a good thing? Implications of definition, person, and situation for the influence of interactivity on advertising effectiveness. Journal of Advertising, 31(4), 53-64.
• Online, blended and distance education in schools. (2015). Routledge.
• Ray, B. D. (2017). Research facts on homeschooling. National Home Education Research Institute.
• Riley, K. J. (2015). The costs of homeschooling. Phi Delta Kappan, 97(3), 54-58.
• Smedley, T. C. (2018). Advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling. Nova Science Publishers.
• Thomas, J. B. (2016). Homeschooling: Advantages and disadvantages. Global Journal of Human-Social Science: E Economics, 16(6).
• Wichers, M. (2001). Qualitative research on homeschooling. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 3(3), 1-17.
• Wizner, S. (2016). Homeschooling: Back to the future? Educational Leadership, 74(7), 60-64.
• Wurzel, J. S. (2017). Homeschooling in the United States: An exploratory study. Journal of School Choice, 11(1), 23-42.

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Laurie Halse Anderson

Trees, Seeds, Plants, and Forests Quotes in Speak

I look for shapes in my face. Could I put a face in my tree, like a dryad from Greek mythology? Two muddy-circle eyes under black-dash eyebrows, piggy-nose nostrils, and a chewed-up horror of a mouth. Definitely not a dryad face. I can’t stop biting my lips. It looks like my mouth belongs to someone else, someone I don’t even know. I get out of bed and take down the mirror. I put it in the back of my closet, facing the wall.

Applesmell soaks the air. One time when I was little, my parents took me to an orchard. Daddy set me high in an apple tree. It was like falling up into a storybook, yummy and red and leaf and the branch not shaking a bit. Bees bumbled through the air, so stuffed with apple they couldn’t be bothered to sting me. The sun warmed my hair, and a wind pushed my mother into my father’s arms, and all the apple-picking parents and children smiled for a long, long minute.

I open up a paper clip and scratch it across the inside of my left wrist. Pitiful. If a suicide attempt is a cry for help, then what is this? A whimper, a peep? I draw little windowcracks of blood, etching line after line until it stops hurting. It looks like I arm-wrestled a rosebush. Mom sees the wrist at breakfast. Mom: “I don’t have time for this, Melinda.”

I stumble from thornbush to thornbush— my mother and father who hate each other, Rachel who hates me, a school that gags on me like I’m a hairball. And Heather. I just need to hang on long enough for my new skin to graft. Mr. Freeman thinks I need to find my feelings. How can I not find them? They are chewing me alive like an infestation of thoughts, shame, mistakes.

Slush is frozen over. People say that winter lasts forever, but it’s because they obsess over the thermometer. North in the mountains, the maple syrup is trickling. Brave geese punch through the thin ice left on the lake. Underground, pale seeds roll over in their sleep. Starting to get restless. Starting to dream green.

This looks like a tree, but it is an average, ordinary, everyday, boring tree. Breathe life into it. Make it bend— trees are flexible, so they don’t snap. Scar it, give it a twisted branch— perfect trees don’t exist. Nothing is perfect. Flaws are interesting. Be the tree.

I crouch by the trunk, my fingers stroking the bark, seeking a Braille code, a clue, a message on how to come back to life after my long undersnow dormancy. I have survived. I am here. Confused, screwed up, but here. So, how can I find my way? Is there a chain saw of the soul, an ax I can take to my memories or fears? I dig my fingers into the dirt and squeeze. A small, clean part of me waits to warm and burst through the surface. Some quiet Melindagirl I haven’t seen in months. That is the seed I will care for.

IT happened. There is no avoiding it, no forgetting. No running away, or flying, or burying, or hiding. Andy Evans raped me in August when I was drunk and too young to know what was happening. It wasn’t my fault. He hurt me. It wasn’t my fault. And I’m not going to let it kill me. I can grow. I look at my homely sketch. It doesn’t need anything. Even through the river in my eyes I can see that. It isn’t perfect and that makes it just right.

Trees, Seeds, Plants, and Forests Symbol Timeline in Speak

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-21

Part 2, Chapters 22-44

Part 3, Chapters 45-63

Part 4, Chapters 64-89

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Melinda works through her trauma as the year progresses, and alongside this process, she also develops her skills as an artist and her ability to express her emotions and experiences through art. At the beginning of the school year, Melinda describes art class as a dream that follows a nightmare; it is her refuge and the only place she feels like she can enjoy herself at school. Melinda also admires her teacher, Mr. Freeman , for his expressiveness, creativity, and passion for art and education. Mr. Freeman designs a year-long art project in which the students must pick a random object and “spend the rest of the year learning how to turn that object into a piece of art […] [and] figure out how to make [their] object say something, express an emotion, speak to every person who looks at it” (12). Melissa’s object turns out to be a tree, and she initially declares it too easy. Mr. Freeman warns that she cannot choose another object; she must instead adapt and find out how to express herself through the form of a tree. As Melinda begins her journey into artistic expression, she learns The Importance of Art as a Form of Self-Expression and Healing .

Melinda’s trees help her process and express how she feels when she cannot speak with words. Mr. Freeman often steps in to interpret her works for her, and she finds his analyses quite accurate most of the time. Melinda’s first trees are watercolor creations of lightning-struck trees, symbolizing how she feels after being traumatized. She is alive, but barely; she is clinging to what remains of her freedom and dignity. Next, Melinda makes a sculpture out of turkey bones, using twigs to create the legs. It represents the decay inside her and the fact that a part of her is dying as she remains silenced. Melinda notes her progress with her trees:

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There has been some progress in the whole tree project, I guess. Like Picasso, I’ve gone through different phases. There’s the Confused Period, where I wasn’t sure what the assignment really was. The Spaz period, where I couldn’t draw a tree to save my life. The Dead Period, when all my trees looked like they had been through a forest fire or a blight. I’m getting better (151).

Each of Melinda’s creations is kept inside her closet hideaway at school, where she can reflect on her progress and what each piece means to her. Each represents How Personality and Perception Change as a Result of Trauma .

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Melinda suffers many setbacks and frustrations in art class, but never gives up. Mr. Freeman tells Melinda to “be the tree” (153) and reminds her that “nothing is perfect. Flaws are interesting” (153). After many attempts at carving a tree out of a linoleum block, Ivy suggests that she let go of perfection and just sketch it. This approach helps Melinda create her final project, an imperfect sketch of a tree that represents her growth and healing: “It wasn’t my fault. He hurt me. It wasn’t my fault. And I’m not going to let it kill me. I can grow” (198). Melinda’s tree art helps her speak through art and eventually speak out verbally, thus helping to illuminate the novel’s theme, Finding One’s Voice After It Has Been Lost .

While attempting to avoid Mr. Neck in the halls one day, Melinda hides in a janitor’s closet. She notices that it has a desk and armchair inside, along with “dead roaches crocheted together with cobwebs” (26). It is clearly abandoned, and since Melinda feels abandoned herself, she finds it to be a suitable place to start spending time. She tidies it up, hides the mirror on the wall with a Maya Angelou poster, and skips class to sit and read or reflect inside the closet. Melinda hides the mirror in order to avoid looking at herself; she does not recognize the person she sees and hates to look at the scabs on her lips and her sallow expression. Melinda hopes that a poster of Maya Angelou will help inspire her to speak up for herself in time. She has heard from her English teacher that Maya Angelou was a bold and daring writer, and she admires her for that. Later, when Melinda tries to work up the courage to tell Rachel about Andy, she describes the poster screaming at her to come out with the truth. Melinda also uses the closet to store her art projects as she completes them, watching herself progress throughout the year.

Besides being a safe place for Melinda, the closet also serves as a hiding place and an unhealthy form of isolation. Melinda starts the school year socially isolated and traumatized, and when she finds the closet, it seems like the perfect place for her. Not only does Melinda hide from the world, but she also hides from the truth about what happened to her, constantly trying to suppress the memory and forget. It is not until the novel’s conclusion that Melinda realizes she must dismantle the closet and confront her trauma: “I don’t feel like hiding anymore. A breeze from the open window blows my hair back and tickles my shoulders. This is the first day warm enough for a sleeveless shirt. Feels like summer” (192). Melinda is optimistic about her future, feeling confident and no longer needing a hiding place away from her peers, teachers, and parents. In this way, closing the closet symbolizes how Melinda confronts the truth and Finds Her Voice After It Has Been Lost . As Melinda cleans the closet, Andy traps her inside and attempts to rape her again. Melinda does not freeze or go silent this time; instead, she threatens Andy with glass and screams for help. Doing so saves her, and Andy is discovered to be her attacker. As Melinda confronts the truth within herself, it simultaneously comes out in public as well.

The Changing Seasons

Melinda’s story takes place over the course of a school year and as the seasons change. She lives in Syracuse, Connecticut, and regularly references the cold weather, snow, and spring as they arrive. When Melinda starts the school year in the fall, she feels as if she is dying, cold, and isolated. Everything that made her Melinda has vanished, and what remains is a traumatized shell that cannot speak. In art class after Thanksgiving, Melinda creates a sculpture to represent her decaying self out of rotting turkey bones. Melinda’s silence and pain worsen before they improve, and by winter, she is frozen like the snow and ice around her. She finds it more difficult to speak than ever, her only friend ( Heather ) has abandoned her, and her parents are becoming increasingly frustrated with her lack of communication and failing grades. Christmas passes with no celebration and virtual silence in the house. The snow symbolizes Melinda’s continued silence and the quiet isolation that she suffers: “Nothing quieter than snow. The sky screams to deliver it, a hundred banshees flying on the edge of the blizzard. But once the snow covers the ground it hushes as still as my heart” (130). The changing seasons thus symbolize How Personality and Perception Change as a Result of Trauma .

As spring thaws the ground and the world around Melinda, she too begins to warm up again. She starts to speak to peers and teachers, and eventually even her parents. The springtime symbolizes Melinda’s healing process and finding herself again, illustrating the novel’s theme, Finding One’s Voice After It Has Been Lost . Melinda observes herself changing and the barrier around her breaking down. Much of this is due to the support of her art teacher, her reconnection with Ivy, and her realization of the truth about her experience. When Melinda goes for a bike ride in the novel’s conclusion, she sits down on the fresh dirt and searches for “a message on how to come back to life after my long under snow dormancy” (188). Melinda compares herself to the seed of a plant coming out of the dirt after a long winter and looks toward the future with optimism. In the final scene of the novel, Melinda makes the leap to open up to Mr. Freeman about what happened to her at the party and everything that has happened to her since: “I feel the frozen stillness melt down through the inside of me, dripping shards of ice that vanish in a puddle of sunlight on the stained floor. Words float up” (198).

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by Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak essay questions.

Examine the role that female sexuality plays in Melinda's world. How does it affect Melinda differently from those around her?

After the rape, Melinda notices the sexual objectification of women all around her, whether it be the celebration of the two-sided, sexually promiscuous cheerleaders or Heather's swimsuit modeling career. Melinda, as "Outcast" removes herself from her world, partly in order to remove herself from this system of objectification. As an outside observer, Melinda takes on a socially asexual role and is able to effectively critique the gender breakdown at her high school.

What role does David Petrakis play in the novel? What is the significance of his character?

David Petrakis is Melinda's smart and outspoken lab partner. She admires him from the beginning of the novel, when she explains that he is never bullied, even though he seems like the type that would be. As the story moves forward, David Petrakis challenges Mr. Neck and helps Melinda to do the same. He becomes a symbol of what Melinda would like to be: strong, well-spoken, independent. David is an able communicator, unlike Melinda. She calls even his silence "eloquent." Her crush on him develops not only because he is one of the only people to talk to her, but also because he possesses the personality she aspires to have. You may wish to consider the significance of this position being filled by a male character, instead of a female one.

What role does confession play in the novel?

Speak is a story about the struggle to confess. Melinda tries initially to hide behind silence, but as the novel progresses it becomes increasingly clear that she must confess before healing. There are two confessions: one to Rachel and one to Mr. Freeman at the very end of the book. While the one to Rachel is written and at first appears unsuccessful, it nevertheless has healing qualities, and ultimately leads to their presumed reconciliation. We see a stark difference in Melinda's actions and thoughts. The ultimate confession, the spoken one to Mr. Freeman, comes after everyone has already learned of Melinda's secret. The act of confessing in this novel, however, is more important than what is confessed. You may wish to address the fact that confessing sets Melinda free even though she is the victim, not the perpetrator of the crime.

Can Speak be read as a feminist novel? Why or why not?

Speak certainly contains many feminist overtones. Melinda regains her voice and strength after being silenced and dominated by a male. She writes a report on the suffragettes and then stands in front of the class protesting in what she believes to be a suffragette manner. Melinda also works hard to distinguish herself from the traditional gender roles at her high school, and she regularly satirizes the characters that happily fill those roles.

What are the results and consequences of speaking in the novel? How does this affect Melinda?

Melinda witnesses two very different reactions to speaking/speaking up. In some instances, she sees people humiliated, such as Rachel who speaks up against symbolism in English class. These instances reaffirm Melinda's belief that speaking only hurts you, never helps you. However, in other cases, such as David Petrakis' stance against Mr. Neck, Melinda observes the power of speaking up. These instances ultimately encourage her to grow and speak again.

Melinda often reminisces about childhood. What does this say about Melinda?

Melinda's childhood memories do not serve simply to indicate that Melinda was once happy, but now is not. To the contrary, they serve a much more complex purpose. Her reminiscences show her attention to identity and the fluidity of identity change. To Melinda, these identity changes have mostly been negative. There are also times when Melinda wishes to protect her friends from this change. When she sees Rachel kissing Andy Evans, Melinda upsets herself by remembering when she and Rachel were kids. Because Melinda has so far found adolescence so painful, she has a hard time letting go of her childhood, which seems idyllic in comparison. This contributes to the inability she feels to grow until the end of the novel.

What is the function of Melinda's closet?

Throughout the novel, Melinda wants to deflect attention from herself and conceal her thoughts. It thus makes sense that her safe haven would be an abandoned closet where she can shut herself away and see nobody. The closet is also a symbol traditionally used in the homosexual world. It functions similarly for Melinda. While she is in the closet, she has not opened up about her secret and not crossed a socially-charged line. It is only after she decides to leave her closet behind, and effectively "come out," that she is willing to confess, and can show her inner voice to her peers.

What is the significance of Mr. Freeman acting as the recipient of Melinda's first spoken confession?

Mr. Freeman is first and foremost the character that most obviously reaches out to Melinda and emphasizes the importance of recognizing and expressing emotions, not stifling them. She rejects his help at first, but eventually decides to confess to him. This is a sign of her growth as a person. Secondly, however, a confession to Mr. Freeman is significant because it falls in line with the traditional young adult novel form. Ultimately, in order to heal, Melinda must reach out to an older, wiser adult.

Discuss the importance of the intertextual references in Speak .

The most important references are to The Scarlet Letter and Maya Angelou. The Scarlet Letter features a woman who is exiled from society for sexual reasons. The relationship between this story and Melinda is obvious--though her classmates don't realize it, they have exiled her beacuse of the consequences of a sexual act. Maya Angelou's face appears on a poster in Melinda's closet. Angelou is known for her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , a coming-of -age story that illustrates overcoming racism and moving past the trauma of being raped at a young age. She not only admitted what happened to her, but did so to the whole world, and so she serves as a role model for Melinda as she tries to find her voice.

Examine the role that mirrors play in the novel.

Melinda posses a distinct dislike for mirrors and her own reflection throughout the novel. This dislike indicates the self-loathing that Melinda feels after the rape. She turns the mirror around in her bedroom and covers the mirror in her closet. At the end of the novel, the shattering of the mirror, and Melinda's use of one of its broken shards to threaten Andy Evans, demonstrates a conquering of her self-loathing, and a turning of the loathing to the appropriate object, Andy.

Speak Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Speak is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What aspect of The Scarlet Letter does Hairwoman seem obsessed with?

Hairwoman is obsessed with the symbolism in The Scarlet Letter.

How is Mr. Freeman keeping track of grades in his art class?

Mr. Frreman doesn't give grades, but rather, evaluates his students' work and paints his evaluations in a list on the wall.

what problems are people having with mr.freemans assignment? what advice does he give to help them? from pages 20-26

Mr. Freeman's assignment is rather abstract. He wants students to pick an object that metaphorically speaks to the person who views it. I think Mr. Freeman tells them to listen to themselves.

Study Guide for Speak

Speak study guide contains a biography of Laurie Halse Anderson, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Speak
• Speak Summary
• Character List

Essays for Speak

Speak essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.

• The Power of Words: A Speak Analysis
• From Wishbones to Wings: The Symbolism of Birds in "Speak"
• The Factors That Helped Melinda Recover
• Sexual Assault in Speak

Lesson Plan for Speak

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Speak
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Speak Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Speak

• Introduction