Melinda’s Coming of Age
In the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, a girl named Melinda gets raped during a summer party before starting high school of her freshman year. After getting raped by Andy Evans, Melinda quickly calls the police. However, when they arrive, she is at such a loss for words, and not a sound comes out of her mouth. The police shut down the party and began to arrest a couple of the kids. As Melinda’s freshman year approaches, all the kids in the school hate her, even her best friends abandon her. This is because they think she tried to get them into trouble by calling the police. Melinda struggles to survive her freshman year after losing all her friendships, and even though the rape wasn't her fault, she refuses to speak about what really happened. Throughout the novel, Melinda's developing art project parallels her progressing ability to speak about her rape. Finding out how to deal with her exasperations instead of keeping quiet, and finally by the end of the novel she develops the confidence to speak out about it. …show more content…
Melinda is assigned trees as her art project for the year. Over the course of the year, Melinda’s drawings improve as she compares her personal situation to her art project. She expresses her feelings in the way she creates her trees “Perfect trees don't exist. Nothing's perfect. Flaws are interesting. Be the tree” (153). Melinda forms a friendship with her art teacher who constantly encourages her push through her artistics doubts. She manages to find flaws in her art which is a representation about how she feels about herself. Melinda is discontent with imperfections, which causes her to disliking herself. She soon finds herself coming to the art room during lunch, rather than sitting in the
In the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, a girl named Melinda gets raped during a summer party before starting high school of her freshman year. After getting raped by Andy Evans, Melinda quickly calls the police. However, when they arrive, she is at such a loss for words, and not a sound comes out of her mouth. The police shut down the party and began to arrest a couple of the kids. As Melinda’s freshman year approaches, all the kids in the school hate her, even her best friends abandon her. This is because they think she tried to get them into trouble by calling the police. Melinda struggles to survive her freshman year after losing all her friendships, and even though the rape wasn't her fault, she refuses to speak about what really happened. Throughout the novel, Melinda's developing art project parallels her progressing ability to speak about her rape. Finding out how to deal with her exasperations instead of keeping quiet, and finally by the end of the novel she develops the confidence to speak out about it. …show more content…
Melinda is assigned trees as her art project for the year. Over the course of the year, Melinda’s drawings improve as she compares her personal situation to her art project. She expresses her feelings in the way she creates her trees “Perfect trees don't exist. Nothing's perfect. Flaws are interesting. Be the tree” (153). Melinda forms a friendship with her art teacher who constantly encourages her push through her artistics doubts. She manages to find flaws in her art which is a representation about how she feels about herself. Melinda is discontent with imperfections, which causes her to disliking herself. She soon finds herself coming to the art room during lunch, rather than sitting in the