Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson Character Analysis

Self expression is how people express their inner feelings, emotions, thoughts, and ideas. It is an important factor for both others and the person to understand themselves better. The results of self expression, both physically and mentally, can reveal a lot about the person who created it. In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the main character expresses herself through drawing and appearances to show how she truly is feeling inside throughout the novel. In the first half of speak, Melinda’s tree has been symbolically representing what state of mind she is in. “I can’t bring it to life, I’d love to give it up” (78). The tree that she created looked really sketchy and depressing, symbolizing how her thoughts were blocked and stuck
in her mind. In addition, the material she is using, linoleum block, is a hard substance.This symbolizing how hard her emotions are reflecting on her life. “My last tree looked like it died from some fungal infection, not the effect I wanted at all” (92). Melinda had continued to work on her project in the first halve of the book. Her tree looked like it died from some fungal infection, symbolizing that the depression that has been manifesting in her head. She also states that the tree came out not the way she wanted and expected. From this, we can infer that her emotions are so mixed up and disoriented, she couldn’t even properly express her mind freely. In the first half of the book, the tree represents the pain and the mess of the state that her mind is in right now. In the second half of the book Speak, the tree grows and looks better, symbolizing Melinda’s growth in understanding and expressing herself. Mr. Freeman: “Now you’re getting somewhere” (119). As melinda continues working on her tree in the second part of the book, we can clearly see that Melinda had improved a bit with her inner feeling and how she expresses them.