Malinda And Santiago Character Analysis

It is most often that when children begin to reach to the period of adolescence, they begin to ponder and question the world around them. The innocence runs out and they begi n to face the harsh reality. Melinda and Santiago, characters from two different eras, all seem to face the same problem.
Melinda and Santiago all begin their adolescence with happy lives. They feel like nothing can get any better. However, all of this comes to an end when Melinda had the incident with Andy Evans and Santiago having his dreams crushed by a Gypsy. It seems that after these events, it changed the characters completely. Santiago became pessimistic, and spiritless, and Melinda began to fall into the deep abyss of depression. Mentioned by King Melchizedek, he states that when we were children, “everything is clear and everything is possible.” He also warns that as we age, a mysterious force convinces people to abandon their dreams. In the story Speak, it doesn’t seem that Melinda had a dream. Nevertheless, the quote can still apply to both works of literature. Melinda was just a regular teenager. In certain parts of the story, she reminisces times where she wanted to to be younger, as her boundaries to the harsh world was limited, but her freedom was enough. We can imply that …show more content…
Both stories have Melinda and Santiago an urge to do something. For Melinda, it is for her to speak up about the incident. For Santiago, it is finding his treasure/personal legend. They begin what seems to be a deep abyss with no way out. But even so, both of them begin to emerge. For instance, Melinda finds urges to speak up to her parents and Santiago having the ambition to begin working at the crystal shop to reach the Pyramids. . Near the end of both stories, they both achieve their goals. These examples all display a trait of perseverance and self-discipline that both protagonists had to