Art in Speak--Chelsea Chan

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I can remember being in the ninth grade and trying to see where I was most comfortable. As a teenager, there comes a time where one begins to slowly find their identity. Melinda is a special case in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson because not only is she unable to even have an option to find where she fits in because no one wants to be her friend, but also due to the rape, she must start from scratch to see what makes her feel safe. In a school where no one makes her feel good inside, it is crucial that the art class is magnified to show how much art alone has helped her more than any other aspect in the novel.  

                Before the story reaches different monuments, we have a foreshadow on how much art will play apart in Melinda’s life when she says,” Art follows lunch, like dreams follow nightmares.” (9) From the jump, art is portrayed as something positive. The first interaction of Mr. Freeman and Melinda is also hinting at the future when the globe assignment is presented. She reacts in an excited way that it sounds like “too much fun.” (9) and Mr. Freeman’s important message that should be highlighted is taking the object and letting it “say something, express an emotion, SPEAK to every person who looks at it.” (12) I take this scene as the first step in Melinda discovering herself again, even if she is unaware of it this early in the book.

                The “First Marking Period” involves a typical pep rally with cheerleaders, names of football players, and hard benches that makes your butt numb. Melinda is sitting through this when she is reminded that she is “the one who called the cops at Kyle Rodgers party.” (27) She mentally freezes and confesses she has been trying to forget all about that “stupid party, and here I am in the middle of a hostile crowd that hates me for what I had to do.” (28) Her mind opened that locked door and after the pep rally it is apparent in art class. For an entire week “after the pep rally, I’ve been painting watercolors of tree that has been hit by lightning.” (30) It illustrates her anger at the entire situation and even in “one picture it is so dark you can barely see the tree at all.” (31) Like she is the tree wanting to be invisible.

The scene of the wishbone is Melinda’s door cracking open. She popped “the head off a Barbie doll and set it inside the turkey’s body. That feels right.” (63) Melinda did something on her own for herself that made her feel right inside. The dots are coming to life and connecting in her soul. Mr. Freeman reminds her without knowing that to get back on your feet from what knocked you down, you must face it and not run away. He makes this point when he said,” This has meaning. Pain.” (65)

Another illustration of how art plays a key factor in her finding her voice again is when she confesses to Mr. Freeman in his car about art. She says, “you said we had to put emotion into our art. I don't know what that means. I don't know what I'm supposed to feel.  My fingers fly up and cover my mouth. What am I doing?” (122) This is important because this is the only time I can think of Melinda sharing what she feels in her heart and even expressing her thoughts out loud shocks herself!

Art is something Melinda had fun with. It’s the end of the year and a big scene involved her art work. When she goes into her closet and starts to take down her paintings of trees which she does so carefully and timely because it was “hard to get the tree pictures off the walls without tearing them.” (192) and what happens next? Andy Evans walks in during the process. When he attacks what does she use to break the mirror that forces Andy off her? “A block of wood—the base of my turkey-bone sculpture…I hit the wood against the poster, and the mirror under it, again. 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's neck.” (195) The importance of art plays a significant role in Melinda’s life in discovering her voice and strength.

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