How Does Laurie Halse Anderson Use Metaphors In The Novel Speak

In the story, Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Anderson uses images and descriptions in the chapter PRUNING, to portray Melinda’s life. First, as Melinda watches the tree in her yard cut down, she says that, “He’ll only leave a stump (Anderson 30).” Melinda represents the tree as herself. If part of the tree is cut down, it cannot grow back. Melinda is afraid that she may never recover from what happened to her at the party. She may be a stump with nothing left. Next, Melinda’s dad assures her that, “By cutting off the damage, you make it possible for the tree to grow again (5).” Cutting off the “dead” branches symbolizes that Melinda wants to have people with and around her to help her to “cut off” her bad memories and experiences. She does

Have you ever drawn a picture to express something, or just drawn it for fun? Well Melinda uses her drawings to express her feelings and get away from the world. I think the in the story “SPEAK,” by Laurie Halse Anderson, She uses Melinda's artwork and the tree to express the fact that Melinda got raped and afterwards, when she looked up... and saw... a tree.

In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson there are many examples of symbolism. Symbolism is a symbolic meaning attributed to natural objects or facts. Melinda in the book had her tree and that showed how she felt and the seasons changing showed how she was changing as a person. There was also the Maya Angelou poster she put up in the closet in school.

Numerous teenagers notice the beginning of high school to be a difficult as they encounter a new obstacle, when walking into a new atmosphere it is common to lose one’s confidence not knowing what lies ahead. Mixed emotions are dealt from a freshman, Melinda Sordino, as she struggles to develop due to no growth and lack of confidence Unable to face her experiences and seek for help from others, in the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. The text uses Similes to display how Melinda is feeling where she passively lacks confidence due to her trauma. The use of metaphors is to describe Melinda’s fear of facing the truth towards her suffering. Finally, the value of symbolism explains how she is dealing with her trauma by observing her trauma towards

Have you ever spent nights where you slept with hot tears rolling down your cheeks? Days where you wake up with the same nightmare as yesterday? Imagine that all you desired was someone to be beside you, to have a friend. “Speak”, by Laurie Hase Anderson reveals the bitter life of a high school outcast, Melinda Sordino. This story uncovers how Melinda manages to confess an appalling truth to a group of friends that despised her ever since she called the cops at an 8th-grade summer party.

In Speak, the author, Laurie Halse Anderson uses imagery to portray Christmas as a positive event for the main character, Melinda Sordino. Melinda has a distant relationship with her parents due to the fact that she often feels ignored by them. On Christmas Day, her parents “…give [her] a handful of gift certificates, a TV for [her] room, ice skates, and a sketch bag with charcoal pencils. They say they have noticed [her] drawing. [She] almost [tells] them right then and there. Tears flood [her] eyes. They noticed [she’s] been trying to draw. They noticed” (Anderson 72). This quote is significant because it reflects steps of improvement in their parent to child relationship. Since Melinda withdrawals herself from the attention of her parents,

60% of Americans know a survivor of Domestic Abuse or Sexual Assault. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, tells the story of the summer before her freshman year of high school, Melinda Sordino meets Andy Evans at a senior party. She starts high school at Merryweather High School as an outcast since all her old friends left her, and is shunned by her peers for calling the police. She declines to tell anybody the occasions that took place. The symbol “mouth” represents Melinda is conservative about what happens in her life. The symbol “mouth” represents Melinda being conservative about what happens in her life because she is afraid and has no one to talk to, she is traumatized by the things that have previously affected her, and Melinda also stops

Speak Essay “ A sure cure for seasickness is to sit under a tree” (Spike milligan). Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson is about a girl named Melinda that got raped at a party, ever since then she lost all her friends and struggled talking to people in high school. The tree in the book Speak is a motif in the story that symbolizes the growth of Melinda. First, she is assigned to draw a tree and thought it was too easy, Then, she tried stepping it up by adding color to the tree, finally, she built confidence in herself and agreed that she can do a better on drawing a tree.

My PSA is on consent and sexual assault and it is a topic that I believe more people should be informed about. I feel truly connected to this topic because I believe I can make an impact on someone’s life with my PSA. While researching for this PSA I have realized that people need to be informed about the definition of consent. Our entire grade read “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson, we all know Melinda’s story and we all read her struggle to finally tell people about what Andy Evans did to her. I included and quote that Melinda had said when she finally told her story, it reflected the feeling of relief when one finally tells their story.

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.

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.

Moreover, this drawing of the tree is representative of the mind growth of Melinda. For instance, the drawing was poorly drawn at the beginning of the book, Melinda’s pressure and her life were weighing her down. As the drawing got better throughout the school year, Melinda’s strength and mindset also began to get better as well. If the tree meant “to shelter”, then Melinda sure developed a very nice shelter for herself in the end.

The tree in Speak symbolizes Melinda’s emotional state when at first she finds no meaning in drawing the tree then she finds the courage to speak up about her rape experience. As Melinda is starting her artistic path, Mr. Freeman says his opinion on her artwork and she develops an understanding that her art work could compare to her life.

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

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).