Speak

You come back to school on your freshman year. All your friends hate you because you called the cops on the end of the summer party. This is from a book called “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson. In this book the only freedom Melinda gets is with Mr. Freeman in art, and the only way she can show it is through the trees she draws.

To begin with, Mr. Freeman helps indicate the freedom that Melinda has in art class. Mr. Freeman’s name says a lot. His name has “Free” in it indicating freedom. Mr. Freeman is nice to Melinda and on page 9 and 10 Melinda calls art class a “Sanctuary”. Everything is good in art class. The radio plays Melinda’s favorite channel.

Even though Mr. Freeman takes a big part in “Speak”, trees as a symbolism takes a big part as well. On page 12 Melinda picks a piece of paper from Mr. Freemans broken globe and gets the word tree. On page 110 Melinda and David are passing notes and Melinda draws a tree. That symbolizes their relationship and that it is growing slow like a tree. On page 187 a tree is being chopped down in Melinda’s yard. That symbolizes that Melinda is going to start over and live a better life because once the tree is chopped down it will grow again. Then on page 188 she rides her bike to a barn with a lot of trees in the yard and then she remembers that this is the area she was assaulted.

In conclusion, the only way Melinda can show her freedom with Mr. Freeman is through the trees in the book and the trees she draws. Melinda, in the book called “Speak” changed a lot of the freshman year. She showed it through the trees in the book. She finally overcame her fear of Andy Evans and showed him how she felt.