Welcome FHS students! Please check your FHS gmail! We'll use this blog to talk about our summer readings. Sign into Google with your Fairview Schools login. Speak, Never Fall Down, and The Age of Miracles discussion questions are all on this page. Scroll down to find each novel's questions. Then, click on Comment link following the questions you wish to answer. Click on the page links on the left to access additional information.
Discussion Questions for All Novels
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Speak: 10. Pruning Symbolism
10. Melinda's father explains to her that the arborists are cutting off disease and damage to make it possible for the tree to grow again. How can the pruning of the tree be compared to Melinda's life?
I feel as if the pruning of the tree can be related to many aspects of Melinda’s life throughout the book. To me, the dead limbs that restrain Melinda’s growth as a person is the dead weight that nags at her from deep in her subconscious. While there is one major dead limb on the tree that is Melinda there are many others as well. Examples of these decaying limbs are most of her old friendships, and some of the new ones. Multiple times throughout the story Melinda talks about how great of friends her and the other girls used to be. In my opinion, this holds her back, and limits her to only thinking about the past. If Melinda were to cut off these friends that used her (Heather), it would open her up to new opportunities to meet new people and make more friends. Some rotted limbs are easy to remove, while others may include a process which is not quite as simple. Throughout this novel Melinda carries a weight roughly as large as the burden of Atlas upon her shoulders. Sickly and festering, this limb refuses to let Melinda progress further in life. The secret is kept locked up within her for most of the book, even to the reader; however, it is eventually revealed. The violation of Melinda by Andy Evans shapes who she is throughout the novel. This limb is not easy to sever, and once it is removed, Melinda finds it awfully hard to solder the wound that is left in its place. Melinda tries to remove this limb by telling Rachel about the occurrence, but that does not work. It is not until Andy is caught trying to rape Melinda once again that the limb is cut abruptly. At this point in the book, it is finally known what made Melinda act a little off at times to the other characters, and after the limb is pruned, Melinda can finally grow again.
The tree in Melinda’s front yard was infected with a disease it could not overcome by itself. The tree was damaged and needed help. Only by cutting off the diseased and damaged branches, could the tree grown again. The concept of removing diseased and damaged areas can be seen in the novel, Speak. The main character’s life was full of distractions, emotional damage, and past regrets. Throughout the novel, the main character, Melinda, continually struggles to move on and forgive her past mistakes. Similarly to the tree, Melinda cannot grow again. Because the tree could not remove the disease and damage itself, the help of others became necessary. In the same manner, Melinda needed help to remove the damage from her life. With the help of Ivy and Mr. Freeman, Melinda was eventually able to grow again.
I agree with Grace when she says that the tree, and Melinda, need help to cut off the diseased parts so they can grow again. Like Grace said, the tree couldn’t cut off the dying parts by itself. In order for Melinda to grow again, she needs to open up and tell people what happened, so they can help her. She was hindering her own recovery because she didn’t want to tell people the truth. After she did tell the truth, Rachel didn’t believe Melinda. It took a long time before people started to help Melinda. Once people new the truth and began to help her, Melinda could heal and grow. This situation shows the power of having someone to talk to when you have gone through a traumatic experience. Sometimes you can’t heal by yourself, you need others to help.
Pruning a tree can be compared to Melinda’s life in several ways. Trying to overcome being raped by Andy, losing all her friends, and being the outcast of Merryweather High School, Melinda has had a rough Freshman year of high school. Even though this has never happened to me, I am sure it was a very traumatic time for Melinda. Having no one to talk to and living with the fear of Andy. I believe similar to a tree being pruned, the only way for Melinda to move on and try to forget Freshman year is to start new. She needs new friends, along with Ivy, who can help her overcome her post-rape trauma. Friends are the most supportive thing next to family. Unfortunately, Melinda did not get a lot of help and understanding from her parents before they knew what happened at the party. I am sure if they knew earlier, they would’ve responded the same way. Of course, I am sure that Melinda was terrified and was unsure what Andy would do to her if she told the school and her parents. By “pruning” her life, she will be able to move on and get her life back on track.
I agree with what you’re saying about the pruning can describe Melinda’s life. The tree with the disease is just symbolism to show what her life for the past year as a freshman. I disagree though of what you mean by saying that she is afraid of Andy. I think Melinda was more afraid of what people might think than her fear of what he would do to her if she spoke out against what he did to her. When she realized that Rachel might be in danger if she didn’t tell everyone, Melinda stopped caring what people, or even Andy, would think and went out of her way to warn Rachel about Andy. Pruning can describe Melinda’s life by the way she ignored her fears about talking about being raped. She cut out the part of her life that was injured like cutting the diseased part of a tree.
There is a tree in Melinda’s yard where a part of it is damaged with a disease. The arborists are cutting off the damaged part of the tree so it has another chance to live a normal life. The pruning of the tree compares to Melinda’s life. The damaged section of the tree represents the damaged section of Melinda, the part of her that remembers what happened at the party, and all of the other hurtful events that have occurred. Melinda, like the tree, cannot let go of the damage without help. With help the damage can be taken away, and let go of. Taking away damage by talking to people gives Melinda, like the tree, another chance at life, to live on with no further damage. Towards the end of the year Melinda decides she needs to change and let go of the past. Melinda talks to Ivy and she discovers, like herself, that Ivy despises Andy. She is also able to talk with Mr. Freeman and tell him about what has happened. Talking to Ivy and Mr. Freeman helped her to cope and forget the past. So, like the tree, she can live on undamaged from previous issues and live her life.
After being raped Melinda faces many problems such as not being able to speak about what happen to her. On the inside she is hurting. She wants to tell someone but she is scared. Melinda’s father explaining to her that the diseased branches need to be cut off so the tree can grow helps Melinda realize she needs to help herself so she can grow. This diseased tree symbolizes the part of her that has been affected by Andy Evans. Melinda realizes that to grow she needs to cut the disease out of her life, which leads her to standing out against Andy Evans. Melinda starts standing up against any with little acts, such as writing mean things about him on a bathroom wall. A little later in the story Melinda works up the courage to tell he ex-best friend Rachel what happen to her. By the end of the story the whole school is against Andy Evans and Melinda realizes that speaking about what happen to her will help her grow.
Melinda's life definitely can be compared to the pruning of the tree in a number of ways. The way I interpreted it was through her false friendships. While some friendships can be amazing and incredibly beneficial, some are just plain unhealthy. A friend can be an extremely powerful influence on everything. Once someone gains your trust, they can change how you feel about other people, ideas, or even yourself. A friend needs to be someone to build you up, not tear you down. If a friendship is unhealthy, it can spread like a disease and kill all of your self-esteem. Just like the tree, good branches help it grow stronger and healthier (just like good friends can), and bad branches hurt it and make it weaker. Towards the end of the book when Melinda stood up to Heather, she cut am unhealthy, unsupportive disease out of her life. Now, instead of having a "bad branch", she has room for a good one to grow in its place. This means that she will be surrounded by healthy, nurturing relationships that can help her get over her traumatic experience and make her feel like she has more purpose in life.
Samantha made an excellent comparison between the tree and Melinda’s friendships that I had not thought of. I believe Samantha perfectly explains the comparison when she states, “Just like the tree, good branches help it grow stronger and healthier (just like good friends can), and bad branches hurt it and make it weaker.” Melinda’s life was full of “bad branches”, or false friendships. Each relationship hurt Melinda’s self-esteem and influenced her decisions. For example, Melinda started to believe that being raped was her fault, rather than Andy’s. Melinda began believing the lies of her classmates because the “bad branches” in Melinda’s life powerfully influenced her thoughts and actions. I completely agree with Samantha when she states, “If a friendship is unhealthy, it can spread like a disease and kill...”. Samantha’s vivid description of Melinda’s unhealthy relationships show that Melinda needs to cut the unhealthy, unsupportive disease out of her life. I believe Samantha’s interpretation is entirely accurate in comparing the pruning of the tree to Melinda’s life.
The tree in Melinda's front yard has some dead and diseased parts of it, just as Melinda has some "dead and diseased" parts of her life. Also, just like the tree, Melinda needs to "remove" the unhealthy parts of her life in order to grow. In order to get rid of these damaged parts of her life, Melinda must discuss what happened at the end of summer party the previous year. When she first attempts to describe what happened at the party to Rachel, Rachel does not believe her, mostly because when Melinda told her about it, Rachel was dating Andy. Melinda decided that because Rachel was dating the Beast, this was a perfect time to warn her about him. At first, Rachel thought that Melinda was lying to her about who the rapist was, but she starts to believe Melinda after prom when Andy was “all over” Rachel. By the end of the school year, everybody knows about what Andy did to Melinda and is appalled by his actions. Melinda also decides to tell Mr. Freeman about Andy Evans on the last page of the book. Venting to both of these people help Melinda to overcome the build up of emotions that go hand-in-hand with being raped just as the removal of dead branches from the tree allows it to overcome its weakness.
Cutting off the deceased parts of the tree to allow it to grow again is symbolic of the trauma Melinda went through. She is holding on to all the hurt and anger that she feels after being raped, and then abandoned by her friends. She needs to “cut off” all the parts that were “damaged” if she wants to be herself, and continue to grow as a person. In other words, she needs to face what happened to her, come to terms with it, and move on. By trying to ignore it, or, worse, never being able to think about anything else, Melinda would have never been able to move on, and her life would have fallen apart. Throughout Speak we see Melinda go through all the stages of acceptance; denial, consumed, facing her fear, and then release. She denied that she was ever raped, and didn’t tell anyone. Then she thought about it all the time, like when she thought about being on a TV show. Then she realized it wasn’t her fault, and when Andy tried to rape her again, she faced her fear and won. By facing Andy and “pruning” herself she was cutting away the part of her that was hurt, and allowing herself to grow again.
The pruning of the tree is symbolic to Melinda’s life. I think that the author chose the tree in her front yard to show what is going on inside of Melinda; both her and the tree are slowly suffering, in order for either of them to grow or mature any more they will need help. The tree will need the arborist’s help. Melinda will need the help of Mr. Freeman. The tree can’t really help itself, but Melinda can, in order to be helped she must help herself.
I feel as if the pruning of the tree can be related to many aspects of Melinda’s life throughout the book. To me, the dead limbs that restrain Melinda’s growth as a person is the dead weight that nags at her from deep in her subconscious. While there is one major dead limb on the tree that is Melinda there are many others as well. Examples of these decaying limbs are most of her old friendships, and some of the new ones. Multiple times throughout the story Melinda talks about how great of friends her and the other girls used to be. In my opinion, this holds her back, and limits her to only thinking about the past. If Melinda were to cut off these friends that used her (Heather), it would open her up to new opportunities to meet new people and make more friends. Some rotted limbs are easy to remove, while others may include a process which is not quite as simple.
ReplyDeleteThroughout this novel Melinda carries a weight roughly as large as the burden of Atlas upon her shoulders. Sickly and festering, this limb refuses to let Melinda progress further in life. The secret is kept locked up within her for most of the book, even to the reader; however, it is eventually revealed. The violation of Melinda by Andy Evans shapes who she is throughout the novel. This limb is not easy to sever, and once it is removed, Melinda finds it awfully hard to solder the wound that is left in its place. Melinda tries to remove this limb by telling Rachel about the occurrence, but that does not work. It is not until Andy is caught trying to rape Melinda once again that the limb is cut abruptly. At this point in the book, it is finally known what made Melinda act a little off at times to the other characters, and after the limb is pruned, Melinda can finally grow again.
The tree in Melinda’s front yard was infected with a disease it could not overcome by itself. The tree was damaged and needed help. Only by cutting off the diseased and damaged branches, could the tree grown again. The concept of removing diseased and damaged areas can be seen in the novel, Speak. The main character’s life was full of distractions, emotional damage, and past regrets. Throughout the novel, the main character, Melinda, continually struggles to move on and forgive her past mistakes. Similarly to the tree, Melinda cannot grow again. Because the tree could not remove the disease and damage itself, the help of others became necessary. In the same manner, Melinda needed help to remove the damage from her life. With the help of Ivy and Mr. Freeman, Melinda was eventually able to grow again.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Grace when she says that the tree, and Melinda, need help to cut off the diseased parts so they can grow again. Like Grace said, the tree couldn’t cut off the dying parts by itself. In order for Melinda to grow again, she needs to open up and tell people what happened, so they can help her. She was hindering her own recovery because she didn’t want to tell people the truth. After she did tell the truth, Rachel didn’t believe Melinda. It took a long time before people started to help Melinda. Once people new the truth and began to help her, Melinda could heal and grow. This situation shows the power of having someone to talk to when you have gone through a traumatic experience. Sometimes you can’t heal by yourself, you need others to help.
DeletePruning a tree can be compared to Melinda’s life in several ways. Trying to overcome being raped by Andy, losing all her friends, and being the outcast of Merryweather High School, Melinda has had a rough Freshman year of high school. Even though this has never happened to me, I am sure it was a very traumatic time for Melinda. Having no one to talk to and living with the fear of Andy. I believe similar to a tree being pruned, the only way for Melinda to move on and try to forget Freshman year is to start new. She needs new friends, along with Ivy, who can help her overcome her post-rape trauma. Friends are the most supportive thing next to family. Unfortunately, Melinda did not get a lot of help and understanding from her parents before they knew what happened at the party. I am sure if they knew earlier, they would’ve responded the same way. Of course, I am sure that Melinda was terrified and was unsure what Andy would do to her if she told the school and her parents. By “pruning” her life, she will be able to move on and get her life back on track.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you’re saying about the pruning can describe Melinda’s life. The tree with the disease is just symbolism to show what her life for the past year as a freshman. I disagree though of what you mean by saying that she is afraid of Andy. I think Melinda was more afraid of what people might think than her fear of what he would do to her if she spoke out against what he did to her. When she realized that Rachel might be in danger if she didn’t tell everyone, Melinda stopped caring what people, or even Andy, would think and went out of her way to warn Rachel about Andy. Pruning can describe Melinda’s life by the way she ignored her fears about talking about being raped. She cut out the part of her life that was injured like cutting the diseased part of a tree.
DeleteThere is a tree in Melinda’s yard where a part of it is damaged with a disease. The arborists are cutting off the damaged part of the tree so it has another chance to live a normal life. The pruning of the tree compares to Melinda’s life. The damaged section of the tree represents the damaged section of Melinda, the part of her that remembers what happened at the party, and all of the other hurtful events that have occurred. Melinda, like the tree, cannot let go of the damage without help. With help the damage can be taken away, and let go of. Taking away damage by talking to people gives Melinda, like the tree, another chance at life, to live on with no further damage. Towards the end of the year Melinda decides she needs to change and let go of the past. Melinda talks to Ivy and she discovers, like herself, that Ivy despises Andy. She is also able to talk with Mr. Freeman and tell him about what has happened. Talking to Ivy and Mr. Freeman helped her to cope and forget the past. So, like the tree, she can live on undamaged from previous issues and live her life.
ReplyDeleteAfter being raped Melinda faces many problems such as not being able to speak about what happen to her. On the inside she is hurting. She wants to tell someone but she is scared. Melinda’s father explaining to her that the diseased branches need to be cut off so the tree can grow helps Melinda realize she needs to help herself so she can grow. This diseased tree symbolizes the part of her that has been affected by Andy Evans. Melinda realizes that to grow she needs to cut the disease out of her life, which leads her to standing out against Andy Evans. Melinda starts standing up against any with little acts, such as writing mean things about him on a bathroom wall. A little later in the story Melinda works up the courage to tell he ex-best friend Rachel what happen to her. By the end of the story the whole school is against Andy Evans and Melinda realizes that speaking about what happen to her will help her grow.
ReplyDeleteMelinda's life definitely can be compared to the pruning of the tree in a number of ways. The way I interpreted it was through her false friendships. While some friendships can be amazing and incredibly beneficial, some are just plain unhealthy. A friend can be an extremely powerful influence on everything. Once someone gains your trust, they can change how you feel about other people, ideas, or even yourself. A friend needs to be someone to build you up, not tear you down. If a friendship is unhealthy, it can spread like a disease and kill all of your self-esteem. Just like the tree, good branches help it grow stronger and healthier (just like good friends can), and bad branches hurt it and make it weaker. Towards the end of the book when Melinda stood up to Heather, she cut am unhealthy, unsupportive disease out of her life. Now, instead of having a "bad branch", she has room for a good one to grow in its place. This means that she will be surrounded by healthy, nurturing relationships that can help her get over her traumatic experience and make her feel like she has more purpose in life.
ReplyDeleteSamantha made an excellent comparison between the tree and Melinda’s friendships that I had not thought of. I believe Samantha perfectly explains the comparison when she states, “Just like the tree, good branches help it grow stronger and healthier (just like good friends can), and bad branches hurt it and make it weaker.” Melinda’s life was full of “bad branches”, or false friendships. Each relationship hurt Melinda’s self-esteem and influenced her decisions. For example, Melinda started to believe that being raped was her fault, rather than Andy’s. Melinda began believing the lies of her classmates because the “bad branches” in Melinda’s life powerfully influenced her thoughts and actions. I completely agree with Samantha when she states, “If a friendship is unhealthy, it can spread like a disease and kill...”. Samantha’s vivid description of Melinda’s unhealthy relationships show that Melinda needs to cut the unhealthy, unsupportive disease out of her life. I believe Samantha’s interpretation is entirely accurate in comparing the pruning of the tree to Melinda’s life.
DeleteThe tree in Melinda's front yard has some dead and diseased parts of it, just as Melinda has some "dead and diseased" parts of her life. Also, just like the tree, Melinda needs to "remove" the unhealthy parts of her life in order to grow. In order to get rid of these damaged parts of her life, Melinda must discuss what happened at the end of summer party the previous year. When she first attempts to describe what happened at the party to Rachel, Rachel does not believe her, mostly because when Melinda told her about it, Rachel was dating Andy. Melinda decided that because Rachel was dating the Beast, this was a perfect time to warn her about him. At first, Rachel thought that Melinda was lying to her about who the rapist was, but she starts to believe Melinda after prom when Andy was “all over” Rachel. By the end of the school year, everybody knows about what Andy did to Melinda and is appalled by his actions. Melinda also decides to tell Mr. Freeman about Andy Evans on the last page of the book. Venting to both of these people help Melinda to overcome the build up of emotions that go hand-in-hand with being raped just as the removal of dead branches from the tree allows it to overcome its weakness.
ReplyDeleteCutting off the deceased parts of the tree to allow it to grow again is symbolic of the trauma Melinda went through. She is holding on to all the hurt and anger that she feels after being raped, and then abandoned by her friends. She needs to “cut off” all the parts that were “damaged” if she wants to be herself, and continue to grow as a person. In other words, she needs to face what happened to her, come to terms with it, and move on. By trying to ignore it, or, worse, never being able to think about anything else, Melinda would have never been able to move on, and her life would have fallen apart. Throughout Speak we see Melinda go through all the stages of acceptance; denial, consumed, facing her fear, and then release. She denied that she was ever raped, and didn’t tell anyone. Then she thought about it all the time, like when she thought about being on a TV show. Then she realized it wasn’t her fault, and when Andy tried to rape her again, she faced her fear and won. By facing Andy and “pruning” herself she was cutting away the part of her that was hurt, and allowing herself to grow again.
ReplyDeleteThe pruning of the tree is symbolic to Melinda’s life. I think that the author chose the tree in her front yard to show what is going on inside of Melinda; both her and the tree are slowly suffering, in order for either of them to grow or mature any more they will need help. The tree will need the arborist’s help. Melinda will need the help of Mr. Freeman. The tree can’t really help itself, but Melinda can, in order to be helped she must help herself.
ReplyDelete