Symbolism In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

An image of a dead skull indicates that a substance is poisonous because it happens to be a symbol. Throughout our lives, symbols are used to interpret meanings in an easier way. Similar to how trees represent life and death. They are a constant source of renewal. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak, Laurie uses the power of symbolism to expound Melinda’s progress and growth throughout her bildungsroman story by using Melinda’s art class’ project: trees. At the beginning of the novel, Melinda is given an art project to work on for the rest of the school year. To her destiny, she picks a piece of paper that read “tree”. “Tree? It’s too easy. I learned how to draw a tree in second grade” (12), Melinda explains. This shows how Laurie

That summer, we realize that she has been raped and has not yet come to terms with what had happened. For multiple times, Melinda has tried to talk until she gave up and stopped trying. Soon enough, her grades started to drop and she started cutting as a whimper for help. This resulted into an overwhelming amount of feelings that she still was not willing to share. Furthermore into the novel, she stumbles upon her art teacher, Mr.Freeman. She complained how her trees suck because she doesn’t know anything. Mr. Freeman explains that that is because she refuses to express her emotions. He says, ”When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time” (122). This refers to when Melinda’s father called to prune the tree just outside their house. Melinda thought the guy was chopping it down when they were actually doing just the opposite. Her dad explained, “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…” (187). Moments later, Melinda comes into a realization that she is like the tree. Both bruised, messed up, and slowly dying, but deep inside you can find a small, clean part of them waiting to burst through the surface. At this