How does the tree help reveal Melinda’s character

from the beginning to the end of the novel?

Picture being in the shoes of a girl, who has no courage to speak, suffering from a
traumatic event. That’s Melinda, from Laurie Halse Anderson’s book Speak. She is
raped, traumatised by it and unable to muster the courage to speak out. Throughout the
story, her Art class’s assignment is creating a tree and Melinda uses the tree to
represent herself. As the story progresses, the tree changes due to the development of
Melinda’s character, from not talking, to speaking out.

In the opening of the book, Melinda paints seemingly expired trees struck by lightning to
represent her inability to move past her traumatic event. This is proven in the quote from
the chapter “The Opposite of Inspiration is… Expiration?” that states, “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.” The tree is Melinda, and the lightning can be represented as the
rape trauma.

As the book goes on, the tree that she creates changes, corresponding to her personality
change. The author states from the chapter “Growing Pains”: “You are getting better at
this, but it’s not good enough. This looks like a tree, but it is an average, ordinary,
everyday, boring tree… perfect trees don’t exist.” The reader can figure out that Melinda
has gotten better from her trauma, but not fully, and now is recreating that using the
drawing tree.

Towards the end of the story, the protagonist’s tree has already transformed into an
imperfect lively tree, but she is still satisfied with her work. In chapter “Final Cut”, the
quote states, “My tree is definitely breathing; little shallow breaths like it just shot up
through the ground this morning. This one is not perfectly symmetrical.” The reader can
interpret that the main character is able to bring life to the tree, and accepts her flaws.
She has matured, and acknowledges that the rape was not her fault.

The symbol of the tree in Melinda’s story displays that she has matured throughout the
book, and the point is proven, from not being able to speak, to speaking out for others to
know. Perhaps, many others are in a similar situation as well. Just like the protagonist
Melinda, speak out for others to understand.