Speak Pages 72-113

Motifs

Trees

Speak Melinda’s Trees Melinda selects the tree as her project ~ she has to make it “speak” (12). Melinda is having a hard time drawing trees (91-92). Melinda and David draw a tree together in class (110). With Mr. Freeman’s help, Melinda draws the cubist tree (118-119). Melinda is having a hard time drawing trees (152-153). Melinda is working on drawing her trees as Mr. Freeman has showed her, when Andy Evans surprises her in the art room (160).

Prey & Predator

What important scenes / moments fit into this motif? Please provide page numbers.

Prey / Predator 5 - “I … a wounded zebra in a National Geographic … a predator approaches.” [“There is a beast in my gut, I can hear it scraping away at the insides of my ribs.” - 51] 86 - “IT creeps up. … IT found me again. … I can smell him over the noise of the metal shop and I drop my poster and the masking tape and I want to throw up and I can smell him and I run and he remembers and he knows. He whispers in my ear.” 90 - “Andy stands behind me ... [he] must be talking too, I can feel deep vibrations in my backbone, like a thudding speaker. … I mumble something idiotic and run...” 96-97 - Melinda runs into IT at the doughnut store. She freezes, hoping he won’t see her. She compares herself to a rabbit in the presence of predators. … Andy “wolfsmiles, showing oh granny what big teeth you have.” He offers her a bite of his doughnut he was eating. “BunnyRabbit bolts, leaving fast tracks in the snow. Getaway getaway getaway. Why didn’t I run like this before when I was a one-piece talking girl?”

Metal

What important scenes / moments fit into this motif? Please provide page numbers.

Metal / Sharp Edges / Andy: 5 - “My lip bleeds a little. It tastes like metal” 74 - “The sharp edge of the flap cuts my tongue. I taste my blood. IT’s face suddenly pops up in my mind.” 81 - Frog dissection triggers a flashback: “He spreads her froggy legs and pins her froggy feet. I have to slice open her belly. She doesn’t say a word. She is already dead. A scream starts in my gut – I can feel the cut, smell the dirt, leaves in my hair.” 86 - “I’m hanging a poster outside the metal-shop room when IT creeps up. Little flecks of metal slice through my veins. IT whispers. … IT found me again. I thought I could ignore IT. .. But he whispers to me. I can smell him over the noise of the metal shop...” [87 - the paper clip] 90 - “Andy Evans. Short stabby name.” … Andy stands behind me to flirt with Emily. I lean into the table to stay as far away from him as I can. The table saws me in half.”

Metal / Sharp Edges / Andy: [111 - “A half-forgotten holiday has unveiled every knife that sticks inside me, every cut.”]

How does Melinda cope with what happened to her at the party? Coping in Speak How does Melinda cope with what happened to her at the party? Examples of Melinda Ignoring what happened to her Why Ignoring what happened doesn’t work Things Melinda does to make a positive change, & Face what happened to her

Melinda’s Coping Strategies Melinda Ignoring what happened to her:

Melinda’s Coping Strategies – Melinda Ignoring what happened to her: 42 - Alien abduction fantasy 45 - “I wash my face in the sink until there is nothing left of it, no eyes, no nose, no mouth A slick nothing.” 50 - “The first thing to go is the mirror.” 51 - “I want to leave, transfer, warp myself to another galaxy. I want to confess everything, hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else. There is a beast in my gut, I can hear it scraping away at the inside of my ribs. Even if I dump the memory, it will stay with me, staining me. My closet is a good thing, a quiet place that helps me hold these thoughts inside my head where no one can hear them.” 52 - Asks her own math question (applies to her own situation) 65 - “The bell rings. I leave before he can say more.” (avoidant) 81 - “I just want to sleep. The whole point of not talking about it, of silencing the memory, is to make it go away. It won’t. I’ll need brain surgery to cut it out of my head.” 87 - “I want the snow to bury our house.”

Melinda’s Coping Strategies – Melinda Ignoring what happened to her: 113 - “It is getting harder to sleep at home. How long would it take for the nurses to figure out I don’t belong here? Would they let me rest a few days?”

Melinda’s Coping Strategies Why Ignoring Doesn’t Work:

Melinda’s Coping Strategies – Why Ignoring it doesn’t work: 38 - “I sit in the back row, where I can keep my eye on everyone, as well as whatever is going on in the parking lot. I think of myself as the Emergency Warning System of the class. I plan disaster drills. How could we escape if the chemistry lab exploded? What if an earthquake hit central New York? A tornado? 39 - “I wear … smelly gray turtleneck and jeans. I just this minute remember that I need to wash my hair.” 51 - “Even if I dump the memory, it will stay with me, staining me.” 81 - The frog dissection triggers a flashback 86 - “IT found me again. I thought I could ignore IT...But he whispers to me.” 87 - “I open up a paper clip and scratch it across the inside of my left wrist. Pitiful. If a suicide attempt is a cry for help, then what is this? A whimper, a peep? I draw little window crack of blood, etching line after line until it stops hurting.”

How does Melinda cope with what happened to her at the party? pgs. 72-113 Coping in Speak How does Melinda cope with what happened to her at the party? Examples of Melinda Ignoring what happened to her Why Ignoring what happened doesn’t work Things Melinda does to make a positive change, & Face what happened to her Hiding mirrors – Not facing what happened to her Not talking to people Not telling what happened to her – not naming it Not standing up to the girls at the pep rally She hides in the janitor’s closet Use names like “IT” – keeping detached from what happened, avoiding naming Andy She’s tired all the time; takes a lot of naps – avoiding the problem Has escape fantasies that allow her to either disappear and avoid what happened, or to pretend that it didn’t actually happen to her Ditches class and doesn’t do any of her homework She senses that forgetting what happened won’t make it go away – she has been “stained” She no longer feels safe – envisioning disasters… She has no friends She gets depressed (Symptoms: she’s tired, her hygiene suffers) She has a flashback, and is always afraid (she is unable to trust people or to feel safe) – she is unable to forget what happened to her She tries to cut herself w/ a paper clip Andy continues to harass her Her grades get worse

“I want to leave, transfer, warp myself to another galaxy” (51). Swallowing herself: “I pull my lower lip all the way in between my teeth. If I try hard enough, maybe I can gobble my whole self this way” (39). “I just thought of a great theory that explains everything. When I went to that party, I was abducted by aliens. …” (42). “I want to leave, transfer, warp myself to another galaxy” (51). “I pick up a gown. I want to put it on and crawl under the white knobbly blanket and white sheets in one of those high-off-the-ground beds and sleep. … (112-3).

Maybe add a shortcut to the lit device pgs and add them to the end of this document

Maybe add a shortcut to the lit device pgs and add them to the end of this document