Themes & Symbols In Speak Mr. Laurich Reading Fundamentals Information courtesy of litcharts.com

Bell Work  What is the maximum number of themes you can usually keep track of in a book and why?  You will need to take notes on this  Yes it’s for a grade  Yes you can use your bell work page  No, you can’t be on your phone

6 Major Themes In Speak 1.COMING OF AGE 2.COMMUNICATION VERSUS SILENCE 3.APPEARANCE VS. REALITY 4.FAMILY AND FRIENDSHIP 5.ISOLATION, LONELINESS, & DEPRESSION 6.MEMORY AND TRAUMA

Coming of Age  Books focuses on becoming an adult  Something derails this journey  Melinda acts out childishly  Process restarts as year goes on

COMMUNICATION VS. SILENCE  Throughout the book, Melinda finds it harder and harder to speak  The struggle symbolizes what happened before book starts  Other characters have communication problems  Heather talks so much she can’t hear what Melinda is trying to say

COMMUNICATION VS. SILENCE  Mel’s parents can’t communicate with each other or Melinda  They leave notes instead of speaking to each other  Melinda’s redemption comes through communication.  Art teaches her there are many ways to speak

APPEARANCE VS. REALITY  Melinda’s cynicism due to disconnect between appearance and reality  Sees cracks in the façade of her parents’ marriage  Social climbing of her only friend, Heather  Petty tyranny of teachers who supposedly have her best interests at heart  Believes that concept of family is built upon lies

FAMILY AND FRIENDSHIP  Melinda is completely alienated from both family and friends  Parents neglectful & distant, she’s unable to tell them truth  Her friends all abandoned her, believing she snitched on party

FAMILY AND FRIENDSHIP  Yearns for friendship & very hurt when Heather ditches her  Pushes away people despite her loneliness  Art teacher and David Petrakis help her trust again

ISOLATION, LONELINESS, & DEPRESSION  1 st person POV allows author to vividly portray effects of isolation & loneliness  Continually finds herself rejected & alone.  Mel’s attitude towards her isolation is conflicted.  Believes she chose isolation, pushes away those close to her

ISOLATION, LONELINESS, & DEPRESSION  Mel is desperately unhappy & lonely  Self-imposed isolation a symptom of her trauma not conscious choice  Mel is deep in throes of depression not a slacker like parents believe

Memory & Trauma  Melinda begins Speak burdened by memory and trauma  Unable to tell anyone what happened to her  As for happy memories, event & what followed it has stained them

Memory & Trauma  When she remembers her friends, she realizes they abandoned her  Mel finds it difficult to enjoy anything & views everything with distrust & cynicism

Symbols in Speak  PLANT LIFE  BIRDS  MELINDA’S SCHOOL  MELINDA’S BEDROOM  MIRRORS  LIPS  BLOOD  WATER, ICE & MELTING  WARMTH & SUNLIGHT

PLANT LIFE  Plants powerful symbols that represent life, strength, & fertility  Melinda assigned a tree as yearlong assignment in art class.  She fails creating tree many times but never gives up  This shows resilience in the face of her trauma.

PLANTS  She first draws dead trees, she believes her life stopped after the event  She eventually creates trees that are alive  As she begins to heal, she starts gardening, showing her coming back to life

BIRDS  Symbolize freedom & joy  Most memorable appearance is turkey that Melinda’s mother attempts to cook on Christmas.  After her mother ruins turkey & her father mutilates it with a chainsaw they bury it

BIRDS  Melinda digs up its bones & creates disturbing work of art  Dead bird represents freedom that Melinda believes she lost  Sculpture represents her trauma and moving past it

MELINDA’S SCHOOL  She turns an unused janitor’s closet into hiding place  Allows her to cut class & avoid peers who mock & despise her  She makes the environment rich and creative with poster and turkey bone sculpture  But it represents prison of silence that Melinda fashioned for herself

MELINDA’S BEDROOM  Bedroom is symbol of childhood innocence that she lost  Melinda feels out-of-place and uncomfortable within it  refuses to decorate it  Refusal shows she needs to mature and move forward  Not ready until end of book

MIRRORS  Removes mirror from bedroom and puts it in closet  Covers up mirror in janitor’s closet with Maya Angelou poster  Hatred of her own image symbolizes Melinda’s deeper self-loathing  She believes she deserved what happened to her  When she realizes she was a victim, hatred vanishes

LIPS  She can’t talk about what happened to her  Melinda hates/mutilates her lips  She can’t stop picking at and chewing on them

BLOOD  Blood represents both life and death  Connected to becoming a woman  Frequently (and disturbingly), Melinda reacts positively to the idea of bleeding  Blood is proof that she’s been injured even if she can’t verbally relay it

WATER, ICE, & MELTING  Images of water and ice are prevalent in Speak.  Melinda is, frozen in the sense that she has stopped living  She is cold to all those around her

WATER, ICE, & MELTING  She refuses to do her homework, go to class, go out, or mature in any real way.  As winter turns into spring Melinda finds the frozen walls around her mind coming down

WARMTH AND SUNLIGHT  Warmth & sunlight represent moments in which she feels as if she’s alive inside after all  As winter turns to spring, & Melinda moves past her trauma, she spends more time outside  Shift that represents her re-engagement with the world around her  The art room, Melinda’s refuge throughout the year, is the warmest, lightest place in school.