The Seasons Of Melinda In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

The Seasons of Melinda Ever notice when the seasons change, people change? In the novel Speak, author Laurie Halse Anderson explores the idea of change. The book is about a high school freshman named Melinda Sordino, who has been raped and is trying to get over it. Melinda faced lots of challenges, including losing friends, dealing with school, confronting her rapist, and learning how to communicate with her dysfunctional family. She does not like any of her classes except for art. In art she has to pick a topic she gets at random. She gets “tree” and will have to create projects that incorporate a tree. As it turns out, that object isn’t just an art assignment. It actually ends up symbolizing Melinda’s journey through her freshman year.

She starts feeling empowered and full of life in the spring. First she started by teaming up with her science partner, David Petrakis, to stand up to the social studies teacher Mr. Neck. They stood up to him by doing a project that she was supposed to an oral presentation, but her and David made it so she didn’t have to do it orally. Later she finally thinks about it and makes it clear in her mind that she was raped so she doesn’t have to fight that though anymore. In the next few days she starts to come alive even more, when she gets the urge to clean out the front yard and plants stuff. Two of the most powerful things she says/does in the whole book is when she asks her dad “can you buy some seeds? Flower seeds?” (168) Seeds are the beginning of life, and when she asks for some to plant it is a huge sign that she’s coming back to her good self. The other is when she goes into the bathroom writes on the stall, “guys to stay away from. The entry is the beast himself: Andy Evans.” (175) She is warning other girls about Andy anonymously by writing this on the stall. The most significant thing she does in the whole book is when she is cleaning out the closet she had hidden in for a lot of the book, and Andy comes in to try to rape her again but she fights back instead of going into bunny rabbit mode she would have done in the past. She ends up finishing the fight with a shard of glass pointed directly at his throat and says triumphantly “I said no.” (195) Defeating Andy Evans makes melinda feel comfortable to talk with her parents about being raped, and makes life much better for Melinda. Spring is the season of birth and the rebirth of plants and