Symbolism In The Novel Speak

“ I can’t stop biting my lips. It looks like my mouth belongs to someone else, someone I don’t even know.” ( Anderson 17) Melinda cannot stop biting her lips. She wants to stop but she cannot do it. She does not recognize herself anymore. Symbolism can be used in so many ways in a book and it can have a lot of meaning in the novel when you use symbolism. Mouth and lips have the greatest impact in the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson because it shows how she expressed herself throughout the story.

First and foremost, Melinda starts to bite her lip when she remembers that she was raped. Melinda hates to think about the time that she was raped, but she sometimes thinks about it. She starts to bite her lip because she cannot help it. She …show more content…
Melinda starts to bite her lip when she gets nervous or when she is confused . It is a habit of her to bite her lip. Whenever she feels that it is a necessity to do it. Heather comes over Melinda’s house asking her for a favor. Heather wants to ask Melinda that she needs help to decorate the Route 11 Holiday Inn ballroom for the prom. “ I bite my lip. Does she want to know the truth, that she’s self-centered and cold? That I hope all the seniors yell at her? That I hates sea- foam green, and besides, it’s none of her business if my windows are dirty? I feel tiny button noses against my back. Bunnies say to be kind. Lie.” ( Anderson 179) It illustrates that Melinda did not know what to do. She got nervous so she started biting her lip. Whenever Melinda gets nervous, she starts to bite her lip. Melinda did not wanted to tell Heather that she is cold and self-centered. She does not want to be mean to Heather. She does not want to hurt her feelings. In that moment of not knowing what to do, Melinda starts to bite her lips. It connects back to my assertion because she bites her lips when she is nervous or confused on what to