Already have an account? Sign in. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare. Download this LitChart! Teachers and parents! Struggling with distance learning? Our Teacher Edition on Speak can help. Themes All Themes. Symbols All Symbols. Theme Wheel. Everything you need for every book you read. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive.
Near the beginning of the novel, Melinda is assigned a tree as her yearlong assignment in art class. Trees, and plants in general, are powerful symbols because of the life, strength, and fertility that they represent. Although she originally draws trees that have died after being struck by lightning, just as she believes that her life stopped after her rape, Melinda eventually moves on to creating trees that are living and thriving.
She fails at this task over and over, but never gives up, a fact that represents her resilience in the face of her trauma. Throughout the novel Melinda also experiences many memories of childhood associated with plants and trees; as she begins to heal, she also starts gardening, an action that represents how she is coming back to life from her previously frozen state.
Similarly, she knows that she has been damaged by her rape and its subsequent trauma, yet feels that she will be able to grow and heal once again. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:.
Part 1, Chapter 6 Quotes. Related Characters: Melinda Sordino speaker. Related Themes: Appearance versus Reality. Page Number and Citation : 17 Cite this Quote. Explanation and Analysis:. Part 2, Chapter 8 Quotes.
Related Themes: Coming of Age. Page Number and Citation : 66 Cite this Quote. Part 2, Chapter 21 Quotes. Related Themes: Communication versus Silence.
Page Number and Citation : 88 Cite this Quote. Part 3, Chapter 14 Quotes. Freeman , Rachel Bruin. Page Number and Citation : Cite this Quote. Part 3, Chapter 19 Quotes. Part 4, Chapter 7 Quotes. Related Characters: Mr. Freeman speaker , Melinda Sordino. Part 4, Chapter 22 Quotes. Part 4, Chapter 26 Quotes. Melinda agrees to help Heather on her probationary task of decorating the faculty lounge.
Melinda retreats to the bathroom where the salt from her tears stings her lips. IT is her nightmare from which she cannot wake up. The school mascot will not be Tigers. The search for a school name continues. She does, but spends the time in her closet, or burrow.
Sometimes she sleeps there. She finds comfort in her closet, where no one else can hear her thoughts. She threatens detention if they keep pretending. Melinda decides conjugation of verbs beats detention, so she completes her work. Students take the career assessment. David Petrakis takes a stand against Mr. Neck, David instead picks up his books and walks out of class.
This year, her mom wants to cook. Melinda and her dad plead with her not to, but she insists. Thanksgiving morning, the turkey is still in the freezer. After several hours trying to thaw it, while fielding emergency calls from work, she gives up. They order pizza. Melinda pieces together the turkey bones and puts a Barbie doll head in the middle of it. In biology, Ms. Keen teaches the students about fruit.
David Petrakis now brings a tape recorder to class, and Mr. Neck glares at him. The next day, David sets up a video camera in the back of the class. Melinda goes to the Winter Assembly with Heather. Heather gives her an early Christmas present, bell earrings that jingle. Melinda appreciates that the sound drowns out the voices around her. She decides she will give Heather a friendship necklace. Two days before Christmas, a note on the refrigerator from her mom says that Melinda can put up the tree if she wants.
Melinda pulls the tree out of the garage and decorates. Outside, she makes snow angels, and remembers when she believed in Santa Claus. On Christmas morning, Melinda receives charcoal pencils and a drawing pad from her parents. She wants to tell her parents what happened that night last summer, and nearly does. That she showered until the hot water was gone.
That she lay sleepless in bed. That she heard her parents come home, separately. How can I start? While playing basketball during gym class, Melinda impresses the coach with her free-throw shooting skill. Nicole, the athlete extraordinaire, even compliments her. Melinda has zero interest in playing on the basketball team, and her poor grades prove prohibitive anyhow.
Melinda watches the boys practice. He was the one who had bullied Melinda on the first day of school, decorating her with mashed potatoes.
The coaches contrive a plan. Melinda continues to struggle with her tree concept in art class. Freeman continues working on his own project, which has been highlighted in the local paper. Several board members are somewhat recognizable in his painting. Melinda agrees to help Heather with the posters for a food drive. In biology, the room no longer smells like apples as the class is dissecting frogs. As the doctor stitches up the gash, Melinda worries that the doctor might be able read the secret thoughts inside her head.
Heather has a new job, modeling for a department store. Heather asks Melinda to go with her to the bathing suit shoot. In algebra class, Mr. Stetman tries to legitimize algebra by sharing a Real-Life Application.
Melinda can barely pay attention. Hairwoman continues to assign essays in English class, topics which, Melinda admits, are fun. She wants to throw up. After a verbal assault from her parents, Melinda goes to her room where she scrapes her wrist with a bent paper clip.
While sitting at lunch with Heather in the cafeteria, Siobhan, a member of the Marthas, approaches. She tells Heather that her little brother could have done a better job than she did on the posters. Meanwhile, the girls notice Andy Evans approaching. Melinda turns to look. Andy Evans is IT. He comes up behind Melinda and flirts with Emily. No one comes looking for her. He has stopped working on his own project. Meanwhile, Melinda starts a new linoleum block, but accidentally cuts herself with the chisel.
While Melinda stops the bleeding with Kleenex, Mr. Freeman cleans the chisel, and pauses in front of his own canvas before slashing and destroying it.
Principal Principal makes an executive decision and changes the name of the school mascot from the Wombat to the Hornets. On the way, she stops at the bakery to buy doughnuts. As she approaches the store, IT comes out the door. Of course, he does see her, and asks her if she wants a bite of his doughnut.
Melinda, unable to force herself to go to school, plays hooky the rest of the day. She goes to the mall but wanders instead of shopping.
Let it out, blurt it out. Oh, to be in fifth grade again. Melinda admits that some of it is fun, like breaking a code. Then she uses his full name, Andy Evans, indicating she is more willing to confront what happened to her. From there, she moves on to call him Andy Beast, suggesting she is not only willing to face him but to call him what he is — a horrible animal, a beast. However, when he confronts her in the art room, she reverts to calling him IT, which reveals just how terrified she still is of him.
Andy's shifting names stand in contrast to other characters that Melinda names, like David Petrakis, whom Melinda always calls by his full name, making him seem more stable and complete.
Thus, Anderson uses Melinda's naming habits to show her feelings toward those around her. Furthermore, while Melinda's latest encounter with Andy shakes her, it does not sidetrack her steady journey to recovery. Melinda deals with Andy by pretending famous talk show hosts, like Oprah and Jerry Springer, are commenting on her rape.
Through their encouragement of her and their rancor toward Andy, Melinda begins to understand that she truly did not deserve what happened to her. Melinda's imaginary therapy session gives her the stamina to continue growing, represented by her new interest in gardening and yard work. Teachers and parents! Struggling with distance learning? Our Teacher Edition on Speak can help. Themes All Themes. Symbols All Symbols. Theme Wheel.
Everything you need for every book you read. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Speak , which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
On a Saturday, with her mom at work and her dad asleep, Melinda decides to garden, raking aside layers and layers of moldy, decomposing leaves from the bushes in her front yard.
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