Speak

In the book Speak written by Laurie Halse Anderson, the protagonist, Melinda Sordino, starts off the book saying how everyone hates her, because she called the police at an end of the summer party. But what her peers didn’t know at the time was that she was raped, by a guy named Andy Evans. Because of the fact that she was raped, and hasn’t admitted it to anyone, Melinda suffers from severe depression. In art class Melinda has the task of creating a tree for her yearlong project. I believe that Mel’s tree symbolizes her growth.

For instance in the beginning of the book, Melinda’s tree symbolizes depression and her struggle with herself. But as months pass, Melinda starts to become stronger and happier. For example, her father arranges for a person to come cut the dead branches off the tree outside her house. When a little kid approaches her father, to ask why he’s cutting down the tree he replies, “He’s not chopping it down. He’s saving it. Those branches were long dead from disease. All plants are like that. By cutting off the damage, you make it possible for the tree to grow again. You watch- by the end of summer, this tree will be the strongest on the block.” I think that her father is referring to Melinda, when he says this tree will be the strongest on the block because he knows this depression will pass. On Melinda’s last day of school, she hands in her very detailed tree. The growth of her tree, symbolizes how she has grown as a person. She realizes that, yes she was raped, and she was too drunk and young to understand what it all meant but she’s not going to let it kill her. Melinda knows that she has to keep growing just like her tree. When Melinda finally admits she was raped, her tree begins to grow.

Laurie Halse Anderson writes a very captivating story about a freshman in High school named Melinda Sordino. Melinda suffers from depression, because she was raped that summer at a party. When Melinda admits to her peers that she was raped, she becomes happier and stronger. This being because, a terrible burden was lifted off her shoulders.