Symbolism In Laurie Halse Anderson's 'Speak'

She was assigned in the beginning of the book in art class by Mr. Freeman a tree. Melinda has been having lots of struggles trying to get to draw a good tree and is having a block of ideas. Melinda says “I try to draw a branch coming out of my tree for the 315th time. It looks so flat, a cheap, cruddy drawing. I have no idea how to make it come alive”(Halse Anderson 55).

In Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel, Speak, Anderson tells the story of Melinda Sordino, a freshman who’s starting off her new year with no friends as her former friends turned on her. Turns out, Melinda called cops on a party, thus, Melinda has become anti-social and depressed because she’s aggravated many people. Through the use of the tree motif, Anderson reveals Melinda is a depressed tree that’s trying hard to grow. At beginning of the novel, the tree motif reveals Melinda is in a dark place as she’s showing a sign of depression and sadness. When Melinda is painting watercolor trees in art class she says “I’ve been painting watercolors of trees that have been hit by lighting.

On page one Sal says “No trees? I said. This is where we’re going to live?.” Another quote that goes along is on page ten “It wasn't enough grass to keep a cow alive for five minutes.” These quotes show that nature was very important to Sal because she was asking about trees because she loves them so much. When they went to Euclid, all Sal saw were

As we know, when Janie had to marry Logan she gets her dreams of a beautiful and happy marriage crushed. All the dreams she had for a happily ever after was washed away with marrying him “She knew now that marriage did not make love. / Janie’s first dream was dead, so she became a woman.” And earlier we see that she felt he was “was desecrating the pear tree” but did not know how to tell her Nanny, so she just “hunched over and pouted at the floor”. So as tie goes on things go as expected and she meets someone named Jody Startks. And even though he did not meet the standard of her pear tree, he seemed like a better option than what was in her life at the moment.

Later, Wharton uses imagery about the setting again, to reveal Frome’s transition to seeing that same world as brilliant and auspicious. Although the mental state of characters in many novels are conveyed through dialogue, Edith Wharton explores the thoughts and feelings of her characters through a silent character, the setting. At the beginning of the novella, Frome’s state of mind shifts from dull to bright, mainly due to the introduction of a love interest into his life. Wharton illustrates Frome’s mood change through comments made over time, describing the rural New England

If Sal didn’t believe her father 's words then she thinks she caused her mothers miscarriage and she is probably upset about this. Sal thought, “ I pretended that it was my mother sitting there and she would still have the baby and everything would be the way it was supposed to be,” (page 140). We can infer that when she means “ … and everything would be the way it was supposed to be.” That she means she was supposed to not been saved and was supposed to be left next to the tree. She’s now wishing she was left next to the tree and her mother didn’t save her, and because she’s blaming herself for the baby’s death. Another significant external change that is a segment of things which have affected Sal is during this period in time, Gram gets bitten by a poisonous rattlesnake but even after being treated at a hospital, it is safe for us to assume this is a factor or a later a cause of her

Take eight troubled teenagers and one instructor and put them in the woods together for nine weeks and there’s bound to be a lot of drama and trouble. When those eight teenagers decide to go it alone and ditch their instructor, the drama and conflict just doubles.This book is called Downriver by the author Will Hobbs. In the novel downriver jesse experiences many types of conflict such as person vs person person vs nature and person vs self.Person vs person conflict is when jesse calls her dad but the problem is when jesse calls her dad Jesse feels like she should apologize for her behaviour and would like to say something but she 's lost in words and doesn 't say anything to her dad this proves the thesis is true by the conflict jesse has had with her dad in the past and she would like to fix it with a new start.Second point in downriver of the person vs person conflict is when Jesse is scared to stand up to troy and say hes wrong or to disagree with him she thinks that if she stands up to troy she’ll get scared and might think that troy might hit her.Jesse smacks Freddy across the face while they were on their adventure and Jesse feels bad because she has feelings for Freddy and feels like she should apologize this is how this conflict in downriver for person vs person has in downriver and will continue but in conclusion these points i showed are all in the story of person vs person conflict in downriver.In Downriver their has lots of Person vs nature parts.When Jesse

In Lisa Parkers “Snapping Beans”, there is a sense that there is a major difference in the speaker’s world, moreover than when she is with her grandmother. In lines 24-38 in Literature to go, the speaker talks about all the things she has experienced while at college. She doesn’t want to bring reality to what seems so unreal when she is with her grandmother. While she is sitting on the porch you can tell that everything is just content and peaceful. The speakers experiencing a few trials that are bringing her down in college, but she doesn’t want to make her grandmother upset with these things so she manages to hide her pain with lies.

In contrast with the tree; the walls family were always beaten down due to poverty, spun in different directions by the wind; as in the millions of miles they move about through the country but they also have strong roots as well. Rose; Jeanette’s mother shows a deep interest and fascination over the tree. She loves to study and make portraits about it. In Rose’s perspective the tree is her view about her family; deep underneath their dysfunctional roots of trial and hardships they face; there is a strong bond of love and compassion that they have together as a

In “Shiloh” Bobbie Ann Mason uses a great amount of symbolism with the birds, the battle, and the log cabin to describe the characterization and actions of Norma Jean, Leroy, and their marriage while they go through these