Speak

Without symbolism within a book, the story would not be full of mysterious meanings. Figuring out what they stand for is part of the fun. The authors connect symbols to real life so they are easily understood. When there are no symbols there is no magical experience.Symbolism is something that Laurie Halse Anderson uses to communicate with the readers in the novel Speak.

When you look in the mirror you see yourself. Melinda sees a completely different person. It is part of her identity crisis. She feels one way but looks another. Melinda wants to hide and not to be seen. But the mirror does the opposite. It shows her face to herself and the world. The lips on her face are cracked and so are her feelings. She is scared of who she is and who she can become. She could become more but decides to stash it away and keep her secret. She wants to forget and dispose of what happened, not face it. On page 20 Melinda finds herself in this same situation . She looks in the mirror and wants to hide in her own shadow. As the book goes on, she finds that she can use her identity to her advantage. Melinda stands up and faces her fears using her own identity to do it. The mirror symbolizes her identity in the book. Page 195 shows the true identity of Melinda ; “Shards of glass slip down the wall and into the sink. IT pulls away from me, puzzled. I reach in and wrap my fingers around a triangle of glass. I hold it to Andy Evans neck. He freezes. I push just hard enough to raise one drop of blood. He raises his arms over his head.” In the end Melinda can use the mirror and her identity as a weapon to end up on top.

Melinda has no sense of identity at this point and time of the book. She tries to cope by creating her own comfort zone. The closet. She feels safe there like nobody can hurt or touch her. All of her things are in there that have any meaning at all. The poster of Maya in there symbolizes that she is not the only one who was banned from the school. In her head that author must have written or done something very dreadful to get banned. Melinda only called the police and yet she was banned as well. The student body either ignores her completely or mocks her. Both ways she will feel hurt and sorrow. She can relate to Maya because they were both shunned into their own reality. Here in the closet Melinda feels that she doesn’t have to worry about the world outside. She is living in her own world. She draws pictures and hangs them up there so she can sit and stare. Each one secretly has a meaning that is hidden inside. For example she drew a picture of a tree drooping into the water. This symbolizes that she is getting better and is trying to breath. Trees need water to live and that’s why it is reaching out to drink. “ I sketch a willow tree drooping into the water. I won’t show it to Mr. Freeman. This one is for my closet. I’ve been taping some of my drawings on the walls.” She is finally ready to try and recover from her horrible predicament. She feels as though she can get through it very easily, where at the beginning of the book it was hard for her to even talk. She is still a nobody, but it helps her to know that she can move along.

The closet shows security but the hospital means help. Melinda is broken and needs to be put back together. The hospital symbolizes how she can and will get better. She knows somewhere in here heart she has the ability to feel better and wants that feeling. She goes to the hospital without knowing why she is there. It was a mistake but she feels she was meant to be there at that time. She finds this can help her get by and try to solve her problems. In some way it is as if she is recovering from a very bad illness. Being sick can be tough and hide peoples’ true feelings. That is what Melinda is doing, hiding her feelings from the world. People go to the hospital for help and medicine to get well again. Melinda may not know it but she wants to be well again.

If there are no symbols there isn’t any fun in reading the story. Symbols are part of our everyday life. We use them to correspond with one another. They do not have to mean what they are suppose to. They can have any meaning that you want. Symbols are creative and part of the real world. Using symbols can help people to understand that life is not all about winning. You use them to express your feelings, not to hide them.