The Changing Tree

Authors Note- I wrote my essay on the symbolism of the tree on the book Speak.

For many teens, school is a place full of bullies and problems. In the book Speak, Melinda not only has to deal with these everyday problems, but she has to deal with an issue that has changed her life forever. The author, Laurie Halse Anderson used the symbol the tree to represent Melinda's life, feelings, and problems. Throughout the book, you see Melinda struggling to draw the tree, and as the book goes on you see really how much the tree symbolizes.

In most books, trees are a symbol of life and growth. In Speak, trees are the symbol of death. Melinda seems to be dying from the inside because she is holding in her feelings and is refusing to tell anyone about what really happened. When Mr. Freeman gives Melinda her assignment, she refuses saying “This is too easy, I learned how to draw a tree when I was in the first grade”. Mr. Freeman tells her to perfect her tree and make it her own. I think Mr. Freeman was suggesting to put in what she really feels and to open up about her life.

Throughout the book, Melinda has troubles drawing her tree. She can’t bring the tree to life and it lacks dimension. Numerous times Melinda attempts drawing the tree, but it never turns out. One time she draws a beautiful tree, which makes Mr. Freeman mad because it is too perfect. Another time, she draws a tree getting struck by lightning, which shows her pain and struggles. Finally, at the end Melinda finally opens up about her rape and is able to draw the tree correctly. The ending tree shows her struggles and has parts of her life in it.  She adds a sick branch that represents her rape, and she adds that “it better get cut down before it infects the rest of the tree.”At the top, Melinda draws healthy young branches that reach up toward the sky, representing her re-growth as a person.

Not only was Melinda’s art assignment, the only time tree symbolism showed up, in fact, the tree in Melinda’s yard was also a big symbol. One day when Melinda was coming home from school, she sees that the tree was getting cut down. She tells her dad that they are killing it and he says, “They aren’t killing it, they are saving it. It has sick branches and if they don’t cut them off, they will kill the rest of the tree.” This is a big symbol and it represents the sick part of Melinda from the rape. He is telling her that if she doesn’t get over it and move on or open up about it, it will eventually take all of her and she will die.

Melinda had to overcome a lot through the book but in the end, she finally draws the tree right. She opens up about her rape and along the way gains some real friends. She overcomes the “dead” part of her and eventually begins her re-growth process.

Static vs. Dynamic Characters

Authors Note-- My essay still needs a lot of work and revision but I have the basic ideas down.

There are some characters that make things happen then there are some characters that let things happen. In the two stories Fahrenheit 451 and Harrison Bergeron ,there are dynamic characters, and  static characters.  These characters all dealt with the theme of government control in different ways. While some characters sat back and let the government decide what happened, Montag and Harrison fought for what they wanted.

Fahrenheit 451 and Harrison Bergeron both share the theme of government control. Like most people in these books, Hazel and Mildred sit back and don’t try to change anything in the world. Hazel knows what the government is doing is wrong, but she’s too dumb to do anything about it. In Fahrenheit 451, the government tells them to watch TV and not read books so Mildred listens and doesn’t ask why. Mildred isn’t happy and knows there is something wrong with the world but she doesn’t seem to care or do anything about it. These two characters don’t want to fight for what is right or give any effort. They want the world to change but they don’t care how or who changes it.

While Mildred and Hazel are static characters, Montag and Harrison are the exact opposite. They know that something is wrong, and they want to fix it. Montag realizes that he is the one ruining the world with his burnings. He soon meets a girl that opens his eyes to what he is doing. Once he realizes how wrong the world is he decides he’s going to make a difference and change what’s wrong. On the other hand, all Harrison’s life he knew something was wrong. He was stronger and better then all the other citizens. He knew he needed to change things in the government and he didn’t care what he had to do.

In the end, Mildred and Hazel are in the book to show us what average Joe’s are like. In books with extraordinary characters Mildred and Hazel don’t stand out.  

Fahrenheit 451 Quote

 Authors Note-This quote was on page 60 and it set the tone about how people felt about Clarisse and her family.

"Uncle had a mixed record; antisocial. The girl? She was a time bomb. The family had been feeding her subconscious." The metaphor "She was a time bomb" is referring to Clara. They were calling her a time bomb because she asked the question everyone hated "why". The purpose of this quote is to inform the reader that everyone thinks Clara's family is bad because they are different. It's telling us that in the book everyone is expected to be dumb and everyone should be the same. The main meaning of this quote is that the family was just different and being different was wrong. Clara knew things the average person shouldn't know. Her family took time to enjoy life and notice the little things and why they happened. Even though the tone was funny it was making fun of the family and actually being serious. This quote was important to the book and showed how bad America had gotten in this time period.

The Quote Analysis

Author's Note--The quote I picked was.. 

"There was nothing of high mark in this. They were not a handsome family, they were not well dressed, their shoes were far from being waterproof, their clothes were scanty, and Peter might have known, and very likely did, the inside of a prawn brokers. But they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the time. "

The quote I picked was from page 68. The tone of the quote was Family, Love, Grateful and Good-hearted. They were showing that they didn't need material items to make them happy. The purpose of this piece informed Scrooge that money isn't everything and love and relationships are more important. It made Scrooge realize that he is too obsessed with money and he has no good relationships. The meaning of passage is that you don’t need things in life to keep you happy. If you have family, friends, and love that's all you need.

Analyze a Character

 

In the novel Number the Stars, there are only a few characters that stand out as dynamic. In the beginning of the book Annemarie is introduced as a shy and weak character that is afraid of the Nazi's and just wants to hide in the crowd. However towards the end of the book our opinion of her changes when she went on a brave mission and saves her best friends life. I think the author wants us to think that Annemarie is a static character until she faces a hardship. 

At the climax, Annemarie takes action and her actions result in a happy ending. When Annemarie finds a package that was dropped by her friends father she must deliver it to keep her best friend safe. Her actions save her best friends life and show readers that even the weakest of characters can have courage. An Example is from my favorite kids movie Nemo. Marlin, the dad fish, is introduced as weak and afraid of the ocean. This is until his son gets taken and he has to have courage to go and find him.  Characters can surprise you and change there actions towards the end.

Point of View Assignment

In my book Number the Stars it was told from the point of view of a narrator. It was told like an outside person was seeing it and telling it how they saw it. The point of view from the narrator was unique because it included Annemarie's thoughts. The point of view  was almost from a narrator and Annemarie.The story tells what Annemarie sees and does.Since shes a child the events are a big deal or scary for her. For example, when Annemarie ran into the British soldiers it was scary and a big deal, but through Kirsti’s eyes (the toddler) the British were silly and Kirsti just didn’t want to waste her time with them because she didn’t know how dangerous they were.

If the story was told in the point of view of Annemarie’s best friend, Ellen, things would have been much different. Ellen was much more scared around the British. The whole situation would have been different because Ellen was Jewish, so she was the one the British were looking for. The story would be different because it would be more about how scared she was and what happened when she had to hide and how the trip was to Sweden. She also wouldn’t talk about Annemarie’s sister or the things that happened at Annemarie’s house.

The Fight within Pi

 Authors Note-I wrote this on what was real in "Life of Pi" and what was just Pi's imagination. I knew what I wanted to say but it was hard putting it into words.

In the book Life of Pi, what was symbolism and what was real? Throughout the book, Pi is on the boat with Richard Parker, fighting to survive. But was Richard Parker really there? This story about survival makes you wonder what really happened and which story was true. Through all the symbolism and Pi’s long journey, you realize that maybe Pi wasn’t fighting against Richard Parker; maybe he was fighting against himself.

During the whole book, Pi tells the story through animals. But when no one believes him, he tells the same story, but with people. So which story was true? Surprisingly, the story including the people was true. For most readers, they would have preferred the animal version compared to the gory human version. As humans, we don’t want to hear about people killing each other and cannibalism, but when animals do it, it is perfectly fine.

This book is filled with symbolism. In fact, if you look deep enough you can see that the Tiger and blind man are just symbols of Pi’s conscience. The tiger represents Pi’s most animalistic instincts. In the beginning Pi is afraid of that side of his conscience, of dying, until he overtakes it and soon the Tiger represents survival. In the book it says “It was Richard Parker who calmed me down” and “he pushed me to go on living”. This means that he urged him to survive and to never give up.

Not only was the tiger a symbol but the blind man was too. He said the blind man was “to [Pi’s] right, to [his] left, close by, and far away.”This symbolizes that his conscience was all around him. The blind man was the part of Pi that wanted to give up. Pi said the blind man “Landed upon [him] heavily,[they] fell half onto the tarpaulin, half onto the middle bench. He reached for [Pi’s] throat”. The blind man was trying to kill Pi which symbolized his bad conscience was taking over and Pi was giving up. When Richard Parker came in and killed the blind man it represented the two consciences fighting. Richard Parker finally won showing Pi to stay strong.

In the end, the animals were just symbols for people. They showed what Pi wished had happened. The blind man and Richard Parker were symbols for Pi’s conscience and after reading the book you saw that the symbolism represented Pi fighting against himself. Survival was a big part of the book but if you look deep enough you can see that everything was just a symbol for something else.