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Double Entry Journal: Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

608 Words3 Pages

Double Entry Journal “Scar it, give it a twisted branch – perfect trees don’t exist. Nothing is perfect. Flaws are interesting. Be the tree” (pg. 177) The quote above is from the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. It is said by Mr. Freeman, the art teacher, to Melinda in the high school art room. In this novel, Melinda, an anxious freshman girl, is shunned by her friends and peers because she called the cops to a summer party after something traumatic happened to her. The students at Melinda’s high school are quick to judge her because they don’t know what actually happened, which ruins her social and mental stability. Throughout the book, Melinda has to work on the same art project. Everyone in her class randomly picks a word at the beginning of the year and Melinda gets the word, “tree”. However, the tree Melinda works on is much more than just an art project, it is a huge symbol in Speak. It represents Melinda. The tree is numerously mentioned and shows how it is like Melinda in many ways as well …show more content…

All of Melinda’s peers are mean to her because she called the cops at the summer party but they don’t actually know that she was raped. If they had known, they wouldn’t have been mean to her and could’ve even helped her. This theme relates to the quote because everyone tree has flaws just like everyone has flaws and you can’t judge people for their flaws if you don’t why they have them. As previously mentioned, this quote helps Melinda learn to accept that she is the tree, that she has scars and isn’t perfect but its ok. A quote which proves this is when Melinda cleans up her backyard and plants a new seed. This seed is to grow a new tree, which is like growing a new Melinda. She can move on from the past, and create a new and better

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