Speak Laurie Halse Anderson Character Analysis

Speak, by Laurie Halse anderson is novel about a girl known by the name of Melinda Sordano.In the novel Melindas transforamtion as the main protagoinst is represented by a tree. Three ways in which a tree represents Melinda are through the strugle to find who she is, her growth, amd life.
Laurie Halse Anderson gives us clues about who Melinda is rather than telling us straight out. In the begining of the novel melinda is assigned a tree for her yearlong art project, as she begins to create trees struggles and just not have any idea of who she is and what she should draw. As readers we notice that Melinda starts to sketch trees that potray her emotional state and what she is feeling at the time. The tree starts off as boring, lacking color, and just lifeless, kinda how Melinda is seen from the start. An example of when Melinda is at her lowest point is at the school pep

rally when she is picked on by a some girls. Later on we notice that her tree represents embaresment and misery what she was feeling at the time of the pep rally. She also said, “For a solid week, ever since the pep rally, I’ve been painting watercolors of trees that have been hit by lightning. I try to paint them so that they are nearly dead, but not totally.”(Pg). As the year went on Melinda starts to learn and regain more about herself.
All through the book we hear about Melinda growing as a character and finding out who she is, but one never stops to think about how a tree could represent her transformation.

Trees are used in a symbolic way in many ways. Trees are used to symbolize the process of her healing , Melindas trees start off very simple and boring but soon start to gain more detail. As her tree grows so does Melinda as a character, the trees growing and gaining more detail symbolize Melindas growth.
Trees are constantly brought up in the book Speak and used to symbolize many things in many different ways. Every time Melinda would sketch a tree it would of always been drawn for a specific reason. Melindas struggle to find out who she was and her growth are parts of Melindas life.
Laurie Halse Anderson did a great job using a tree to show many different feelings, personalities, and thoughts. There were many other symbols used in the book but Melindas transformation is shown well through a tree. A struggle to find out oneself, growth, and life are all ways in which a tree is used to show Melindas

transformation.