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Analysis of Melinda's progress throughout the plot of Speak
Analysis of Melinda's progress throughout the plot of Speak
Analysis of Melinda's progress throughout the plot of Speak
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Restrained by the chains of her own mind, Melinda Sordino finds herself in a situation where nothing seems to go her way. Swerving from corner to corner, she can’t hope to escape this endless loop of misery and despair… Right? In Laurie Anderson’s novel Speak, she intricately uses the symbolism of birds--especially one doomed turkey--to reveal how her own conviction was sidetracked and how alone and ensnared she is within her crippled mind. However, this symbol also eventually evolves into how Melinda can nurture her strength to move on from her burdens and finally be at an accord with herself. All of this then wraps together into one concrete idea of how Melinda grows throughout the story. Birds are a prevalent symbol throughout the novel, but one of the most memorable mentions occurs Thanksgiving when Melinda’s Mother attempted to prepare a turkey meal. Unfortunately, this turkey doesn't get its moment to shine on a spinning platter because “she [boiled] the frozen turkey” (Anderson, 59), instead of defrosting it. The situation is only …show more content…
For a first, Melinda’s own ability to be able to turn the mess of turkey cartilage into art shows that she’s able to flip the switch on things that injure her in more than a few ways. Besides “a palm tree is a nice touch” (Anderson, 64) to compose a more lighthearted and less dreary atmosphere. Moreover, in the finale of the story, Melinda realizes there is something crucial missing from her tree sketch. Thus, one by one she draws “without thinking--flight, flight, feather, wing.” (Anderson, 197.) This easily symbolizes Melinda’s discharge from her overbearing trauma and dejection, as she finally grants herself the ability to spread her wings and fly. Additionally, the best fact that emerges this, is that Melinda won’t look back--no matter what happens, she’s stronger now, and nothing else can pull her
The book Speak by Laurie Anderson is about how Melinda Sordino--- an “outcast” girl overcome the trouble in her life, her growth in mind and how she learned to speak up for herself.
It gave Perry hope that things would improve, especially when he was in the orphanages he was abused in. And when the flashlight broke, she went on hitting him in the dark, that the parrot appeared, arrived while he slept, a bird "taller than Jesus, yellow like a sunflower," a warrior-angel who blinded nuns with its beak, fed upon their eyes, slaughtered them as they "pleaded for mercy," then so gently lifted him, enfolded him, winged him away to "paradise,’ (58). Capote also compares this bird to Jesus Christ, who, according to Foster, is often used by authors to make a certain point (Foster 132). In this case, it adds allusion to the fact that the bird is Perry’s savior. Another symbol that can be found in In Cold Blood is the Clutter family itself. The Clutter Family represents American values, and achieving the American dream. The family was a successful, popular and particularly “Christian” group of people. But despite their successes and their social standing, evil was still able to conquer them and destroy the ideal image of the “perfect family”. “In brief, Nye learned only this: ‘Of all the people in the world, the
Thomas Carlyle expresses culture as: “the process by which a person becomes all that they were capable of being.” By unifying people, culture empowers us to be everything we can be. World-renowned author and activist, and possibly the most inspirational woman of all time, Maya Angelou, both explains and proves this idea in “Champion of the World,” an excerpt from her collection of memoirs: “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Through the use of many types of rhetoric, she illustrates how cultural identities can unite us and bring out many emotions in us, bad and good. She demonstrates her purpose: how culture gives us an identity, and brings us together to grow in places we could not alone. She uses syntax, diction, tone, and other rhetorical
Speak is an about the story of Melinda Sordino, a 13-year-old rape victim, and her high school experience in the 9th grade. When Melinda went to a party in the summer of 8th grade, she and her friends went to a party. Something happened at the party where Melinda had to call the cops. Later it is known that Andy Evans, a popular womanizer, sexually assaulted Melinda. Melinda was too embarrassed about what happened and did not tell anyone why she called the police. Now everyone hates her and Melinda becomes a loner. Melinda only has one friend, Heather from Ohio. Heather is a new girl at Merryweather High School in Syracuse and craves popularity. The only reason that she is friends with Melinda is because to her Melinda is a placeholder
...ors to describe her life and situation. This comes primarily from the fact that in her therapy sessions that is how she is taught to deal with everything. For example, one metaphor she talks about is “… she comes up with the idea of lighting candles to symbolize my past, present, and future…I’ve noticed my past melting… my present candle has stayed pretty much the same,” (D 266). She explains them as her past is become less controlling, her present is her and concrete ideas and her future is bright and untouched. These metaphors show how much she has grown and allow the things she is learning to have more meaning. All of these combine to make the piece very effective and insightful. They help to get her point across and call people to action to help against these crimes.
The tile of the poem “Bird” is simple and leads the reader smoothly into the body of the poem, which is contained in a single stanza of twenty lines. Laux immediately begins to describe a red-breasted bird trying to break into her home. She writes, “She tests a low branch, violet blossoms/swaying beside her” and it is interesting to note that Laux refers to the bird as being female (Laux 212). This is the first clue that the bird is a symbol for someone, or a group of people (women). The use of a bird in poetry often signifies freedom, and Laux’s use of the female bird implies female freedom and independence. She follows with an interesting image of the bird’s “beak and breast/held back, claws raking at the pan” and this conjures a mental picture of a bird who is flying not head first into a window, but almost holding herself back even as she flies forward (Laux 212). This makes the bird seem stubborn, and follows with the theme of the independent female.
The story is about a friendly hunter who comes to a budding girl named Sylvia for help to find a bird for his collection. He offers her ten dollars. At first, she agrees because of the impression the hunter makes on her. Later, she has a revelation through her love for the forest and neglects to tell him where the bird is. Sylvia represents the purity of innocence and has a bond with the natural world. Many of Sylvia’s thoughts are associated with the ability to be free. This exemplifies the women’s rights activism that was happening in the 19th century. Sarah Orne Jewett develops her theme of the change from innocence to experience in her short story “The White Heron” through the use of imagery, characterization, and symbolism.
The entire poem is based on powerful metaphors used to discuss the emotions and feelings through each of the stages. For example, she states “The very bird/grown taller as he sings, steels/ his form straight up. Though he is captive (20-22).” These lines demonstrate the stage of adulthood and the daily challenges that a person is faced with. The allusions in the poem enrich the meaning of the poem and force the reader to become more familiar with all of the meaning hidden behind the words. For example, she uses words such as innocence, imprisonment and captive to capture the feelings experienced in each of the stages.
Toni Morrison shared a story in her speech about an old, blind woman who was very wise. Two young people came to visit her and prove that the woman was not as wise as they heard she was. They pretended to hold a bird and asked her if it was dead or alive. " 'I don't know,' she says, 'I don't know whether the bird you are holding is dead or alive, but what I do know is that it is in your hands. It is in your hands.'" Life is about decisions. The young children chose to put the old woman in an uncomfortable situation. The woman's response was perfect for the children. Her language was strong enough for them to learn how to control their obnoxious behavior. Morrison connects the bird and woman together in an interesting way. She states, "So I choose to read the bird as language and the woman as a p...
Sylvia was a 9 year old “nature girl” who met a charming ornithologist hunter on a mission to find the allusive white heron. Sylvia was about 8 years old when she moved with her grandmother from the city to a farm, “a good change for a little maid who had tried to grow for eight years in a crowded manufacturing town, but, as for Sylvia herself, it seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm.” (Jewett, 1884, 1914, qtd in McQuade, et.al., 1999, p. 1641). Sylvia finds the secret, the white heron. Instead of telling the young hunter, she keeps the secret, because in her mind nature is more powerful than her feelings for “the enemy.”
But in this story, it embodies a theme of entrapment which was also experienced by Vanessa’s father, as mentioned above. The bird that was trapped in her window represents the trapped environment that only lead to an aimless movement. Our bodies do numerous things that we do not understand. We wonder why our body is in a certain condition, perhaps we express negativity, depression without even know it is a good idea.
Did you know that birds have the second numerous population of vertebrates in the world? All birds have feathers, which separates them from any other living organism. Birds also have over 10,000 species, which is about 2x more than mammal species. Furthermore, all birds lay eggs, although some are larger than others. Also, the largest group of birds are passerines or perching bird in Latin. Excluding the vestigial-winged kiwi bird, all birds have visible wings. Although nearly all birds have wings, not all can fly. Take the ostrich, the world’s biggest bird, for example. The ostrich is too heavy to fly because it does not have hollow bones. As you can see, birds have many unique characteristics.
Maya’s journey throughout the book is one of true strength and empowerment. She fought racism, even when she didn’t understand what it was. Discrimination strengthened her before she had graduated eighth grade. She turned hate into motivation and ambition. The racism and discrimination Maya faced throughout I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, affected her attitude, personality, and overall outlook on life in a positive way.
Birds have direct and indirect economic and cultural values for people. Birds are important for a lot of reasons. Birds provide us food, medicine, fertilizers and also bring about pollinations. They are important because they are a part of the food chain. Birds are also important because they help spread seeds around and thus help with the planting process. Birds also perform vital ecological role, besides their economical role. They are critical links within the fast food chains and webs that exist in the ecosystem. The economic importance of birds can be studied into two parts – A) Beneficial effect B) Harmful effect.