We don't just want to teach content, we want to Influence Lives

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         I don't think Melinda would have survived her freshman year without Mr. Freeman. His classroom is her healthy safe haven the entire duration of the novel. She has her janitor's closet, but that's not where is needs to be. Mr. Freeman is constantly tossing seeds at Melinda in hopes of her catching one. Just maybe, if she catches one, she can add some sunshine and water on it, then watch it flourish. Melinda did just that.  Mr. Freeman sees her potential, he criticizes her, and he makes her try. In the beginning of the novel Melinda's stream of conscience concludes that it is easier for her to keep quiet because no one cares about her or what she has to say. She says, "It is easier not to say anything. Shut your trap, button you lip, can it. All that crap you hear on TV about communication and expressing feelings is a lie, Nobody really wants to hear what you have to say"(9). Mr. Freeman proves her conclusion wrong at the end of the novel with this statement: "You're a good kid, I think you have a lot to say. I'd like to hear it" (125). Finally, someone wanted to know what Melinda had to say. He encourages her to embrace her pain, her scars, and to speak up the entire time. Unlike Mr. Neck, Mr. Freeman really does see her pain, without words, and encouraged her to express it through a tree, which is what seeds grow up to be. He literally says he sees her pain through her art. He taps his chin, gets serious in a way she has never seen and says, "This has meaning. Pain" (65).
         It is made evident throughout the novel that  his words of wisdom are starting to grow on her. She is contemplating her feelings when she compares hers to his. She remembers that, "Mr. Freeman thinks I need to find my feelings." Mr. Freeman is the only one who really cares what she has to say. Her other peers have shunned her, Heather is too busy worrying about clubs and other people, and her parents just suck. Mr. Freeman notices her, makes her feel like she matters, so Melinda listens to him. The Tree assignment Melinda is assigned from day one serves as an extended metaphor of herself. Mr. Freeman is the only one routing her on to make this discovery. 
        Melinda finally realizes this and her tree is breathing. Mr. Freeman tells her to, "Make it bend- trees are flexible, so they don't snap. Scar it, give it a twisted branch- perfect trees don't exist. Nothing is perfect, Flaws are interesting. Be the tree"(153). She needs to speak up and drop her branch because as she stated, "If this tree really lives someplace, that branch better drop soon, so it doesn't kill the whole thing"(196). Her tree is breathing, but it is having to be flexible and hang on until the branch drops. She represents the tree and her branch represents IT and the incident. Her tree has many marks and the bark is rough;however, she has roots that reach for the sun. The new roots represent hope, and a new outlook. She concludes that, "The new growth is the best part"(192).  She learns to become the tree, to speak up, and she tells the person who was there for her the entire time, Mr. Freeman. 

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 17, 2017 at 5:42 PM

    Hey Jessica, I'm so glad to read that someone writing about Mr. Freeman, especially as a supportive teacher (as that is what most of us strive to be)!
    You realize that Mr. Freeman makes directly commentary on Melinda's thoughts, and Melinda is heavily impacted by what Mr. Freeman thinks of her. I think you're definitely right and would like to make some other points as well! Obviously, 'Freeman' is a very symbolic in that he frees his students from the torturous routine of school and allows them the freely express themselves. Freeman also goes through his own arc, through the art piece that he makes in front of the students. His first piece focuses on school being a prison (a lack of freedom), but destroys this piece (freeing himself from the prison and the artwork itself) in place of a piece that focuses on "Venice at night" (103). Throughout the story, Freeman struggles with authority of the school and I would argue that he and Melinda are similar in many ways.
    You also bring up that Melinda is the symbol of the tree and the tree a symbol of her growth, and I could not agree more. This tree has grown and changed over the course of the year, just as Melinda has! But her final tree showcases the entire year in one art piece. It is beautiful, just as her story is.

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