The Importance Of A Tree In Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak

Have you ever felt so trapped inside of your own mind you are afraid to say even a word? The main character, Melinda, in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson experiences this. Over the summer Melinda went to a party and got very drunk. She was raped and she called the police. She is now a freshman in high school and she is a social outcast. She has no friends, and now she is mute. She finds her way and her strength through art; she has been assigned a tree to be the subject of her art project. Being on the outskirts of the social hierarchy in school is a large challenge in her life but it makes her stronger than she was before. The symbol in this book is a tree. A tree may be uprooted, but when it is replanted it can grow to be much stronger than it was. When the students are getting their art projects, most of them are fairly simple objects or concepts. As soon as Melinda pulls hers, she realizes it is a tree. She feels this is too easy of a topic. “Tree. Tree? That is too easy I learned how to draw a tree in second grade (12)” This is a point in the story in which the symbol shows up. This is similar to a tree being transplanted because before a tree gets transplanted, it is firmly in the …show more content…
Freeman, he is being very harsh. He tells her how bad it is, this is hard for her because she is already struggling with this. “My tree is hopeless. (152)” This quote is said by Melinda after her work has been critiqued. The thing that Melinda was so confident about is being ripped apart so that she believes that it is a failure. When a tree is transplanted it is pulled out of its home, where it is comfortable and vigorous, and put into new surroundings where it is weak and unfamiliar with its environment. At this point in the book the “tree” is being broken down or ripped out of the ground. Melinda believes that her work is not good enough. Melinda feels ripped out of the environment, the life that she