Lucy Pink
Accelerated English 9a
5 November 2020
About 35% of teens ages 13-17 have been in some type of romantic relationship according
to a survey by the Pew Research Center. Unfortunately, relationships aren't always positive like you see in the movies. A survey by RAINN indicates that one in nine females and one in 53 males have experienced some kind of sexual abuse before they turn 18. Speak is a novel that attempts to let survivors of abuse or rape know that it is not their fault and they should speak up about/against it. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, the tree is used as an extended metaphor representing Mels’ journey from the time that she was raped until she recovers.
The tree is first presented when Mr. Freeman introduced the Art assignment for the year
and Mel picked a tree out of the globe. “On the paper you will find one word, the name of an object...by the end of the year, you must figure out how to make your object say something, express an emotion...I plunge my hand into the bottom of the globe and fish out my paper. ‘Tree’. Tree? It’s too easy… I reach in for another piece of paper. Mr. Freeman shakes his head. ‘Ah-ah-ah,’ he says. ‘You just chose your destiny, you can’t change that'’” (Anderson 12). This quote shows that the object picked from the globe will be a representation of Mel because it is her “destiny”. It also helps the reader know that the tree will specifically be representing Mels’ emotions because Mr. Freeman states the object will “...express an emotion…”.
The first failed attempt of the tree implies that Mel does not feel emotions as strongly as she
had once been able to. “For a solid week, ever since the pep rally, I’ve been painting watercolors of trees that have been hit by lightning. I try to paint them so they are nearly dead, but not totally...One picture is so dark you can barely see the tree at all” (31). Mel painting watercolors of trees that have been hit by lightning shows that she feels dead inside (emotionless) because when trees are hit by lightning parts of them can die. Her saying that the trees are painted almost but not totally dead proves this statement. When Mel says that one picture is so dark you can barely see the tree at all, it’s almost like saying the tree isn’t visible - in other words, invisible. This points out to the reader that Mel feels like no one cares about her nor is figuratively seen after the party last summer.
Mels’ second failed attempt at creating a tree for her art project helps provide proof that she
is starting to move past the rape. “We sit there trading pencils. I draw a trunk, Ivy as a branch, I extend the branch, but it is too long and spindly. I start to erase it but Ivy stops me. ‘It’s fine the way it is, it just needs some leaves. Layer the leaves and make them slightly different sizes and it will look great. You have a great start there.’ She’s right” (146). This tree expresses Mels' new memories and life. The long spindly branch is kind of ugly, scary, and not the part of a tree that people like to see. Think of an oak tree in Autumn on a dark night when all the leaves have already fallen off. It is not pretty or welcoming- the multicolored leaves make it beautiful and exciting, but they are gone. The leaves also add softness but without them, the tree is sharp and spiky, even a little bit spooky. But once the leaves come back in the spring, the tree is full and pleasant. This is like Mel after the party. Sexual assault is something scary that no one likes to talk about and her lips are all chewed up. But later, she starts to create new memories, new friends, she discovers new hobbies like art. These are the leaves - they cover up the ugly and you start to forget about how the tree looked in the fall. These new memories help Mel begin to move past the assault.
The final new growth in Speak proves that Mel is finally ready to move forward in life. A
quote I found that supports this claim is from page 187, “Dad: ‘ He’s not chopping it down. He’s saving it. Those branches were long dead from disease. All plants are like that. By cutting off the damage, you make it possible for the tree to grow again. You watch—by the end of summer, this tree will be the strongest on the block’”. When a tree is growing while it is still small, it needs to have the dead parts cut off of it. It is not the trees doing that killed those branches, it’s just that they were weaker than the others. If the dead parts are not cut off the tree will continue to supply nutrients to its dead branches causing it to grow slower and die faster. This is like Mel - she needs to understand that the assault was not her fault in order to move on and continue “growing” in life. “ A small, clean part of me waits to warm and burst through the surface. Some quiet Melindagirl I haven’t seen in months. That is the seed I will care for” (188-189). This quote gives direct proof that Mel is going to move forward in life because she says she will “warm and burst through the surface”.
Not only does Laurie Halse Anderson use the tree as an extended metaphor, but she also
represents Melindas’ recovery process with an inanimate object. Anderson gives hope to other survivors as well as lets them understand that what happened is not their fault. This helps these assaulted young assaulted survivors to speak up and know that their voices are important and deserve to be heard too.
Works Cited
Anderson, Laurie Halse. Speak. Penguin Group, 1999.
“Children and Teens: Statistics.” RAINN, www.rainn.org/statistics/children-and-teens.
Lenhart, Amanda, et al. “Teens, Technology and Romantic Relationships.” Pew Research Center:
Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center, 30 May 2020, www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/10/01/teens-technology-and-romantic-relationships/.
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