Summary Of Melinda In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

Phases in the Life of Melinda Mr. Freeman said “Be the tree.” to Melinda in Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak. Melinda’s growth is described through her artwork, and other forms of the trees in this novel. In this story, Mr. Freeman, the art teacher, passes around a globe full of subjects for the students to work on for the entire year. Melinda reaches inside, and pulls out the slip of paper that says “tree”, at first she thinks that the subject is stupid and boring, but it ends up helping her cope in the long run. In Speak, Melinda goes through three main phases in her artwork, the confused phase, where she is trying to find a voice, the dead phase, where she thinks speaking up will not help in her situation, and the healing phase, which …show more content…
In this period, which is called the dead phase, any voice that Melinda might have gained while she was confused, was lost, due to the crushing weight of being dumped by the one friend she had the entire year, Heather. During this time Thanksgiving was coming around, and her family was becoming stressed, which was taking its toll on Melinda’s emotional state. After Thanksgiving was over, Melinda saved the turkey bones, and brought them to school to make a sculpture. Mr. Freeman had seen the pain that was going on inside of Melinda, through the sculpture’s dead and frightening look, there was also a palm tree that was half melted stuck right in the center of the sculpture, that might represent her broken innocence, or most likely her desire to tell someone about her experience, but it is entrapped within her soul, and the voice is trying to be heard so desperately, that is has to be bright, and shine through the darkness of what is going on in Melinda’s life. As she sees this as a sign, she decides that she will tell someone about what has