his large painting. This ultimately serves as a model for Melinda, showing her an accessible way of processing negative emotions without speech.

Through her art projects for Mr. Freeman, which are all themed around trees, Melinda is able to explore and express the emotions and feelings she is not ready to speak aloud. Melinda's recovery is reflected directly in her art, as she transitions from drawing dead, frozen trees to ones that are alive and growing. Along the way, Mr. Freeman offers encouragement and advice. Melinda takes his feedback to heart, recognizing that much of it applies not only to art, but to herself as well:

"Art without emotion is like chocolate cake without sugar. It makes you gag.” He sticks his finger down his throat. “The next time you work on your trees, don’t think about trees. Think about love, or hate, or joy, or rage— whatever makes you feel something, makes your palms sweat or your toes curl. Focus on that feeling. When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time.

At the end of the novel, Mr. Freeman awards Melinda an A+ for her final project, but more importantly, he senses that this project holds a deeper for Melinda. When he perceptively remarks that it seems like she's been through a lot, Melinda's walls come down, and she finally finds the words to talk about her assault, saying, “Let me tell you about it.”

Melinda values several elements throughout Anderson's novel.  It is needed to distinguish Melinda's life as pre- attack and life after it.  I will focus on the latter.  I think that one of Melinda's values that she learns is the power of voice and the ability to "speak."  It might seem rather weak to suggest that this is a value, but it is a valid one.  Melinda remains silent throughout the work until the end when she confronts "it" with her defiant voice of "I said 'No!"  In this light, the power of voice is something that Melinda values greatly.  At the same time, Melinda values the power of transformation and change.  There are points of this in the work.  When Melinda wishes to "go back" and "replant herself" as a seed in the ground, it is testament to how much she has come to value the power of change.  Melinda is a person that has grown, similar to the tree from the person who she was into the person she could and should be.  The power of change is something that Melinda values.  Finally, I would say that independence is something that Melinda values.  I think that the last thing that Melinda values is redemption.  Melinda values redemption in that she does not stay huddled in her silence, passively receiving life.  Slowly, she emerges.  Writing in the bathroom wall about Andy, seeking to bring others into her own experience like Rachel, and even opening up to the art teacher at the end are all instances and examples of how Melinda represents a sense of redemption and the belief that individuals can experience a sense of happiness at the end of their struggles.  Melinda believes in those values of self improvement and the striving for perfection that allows individuals to become better, to move from bad to good and from good to great.

This is a hard question. Melinda wants all kinds of things, and she wants them at different times for different reasons. At times, Melinda wants to be left completely alone. It's why she hides in the janitor's closet so much. She's afraid of certain people in the school, and she doesn't enjoy being treated like a pariah. Being able to completely withdraw is tempting for her.  

Probably more than anything, though, Melinda wants to be able to talk about what happened to her at the party. She wants to tell people about why she called the police. She wants to tell people the truth about Andy. Melinda can't, though. She is too scared and ashamed of being raped. She doesn't know how to tell people, and a major part of the novel is about Melinda growing emotionally and psychologically strong enough to speak out.

Melinda's attitude in art class is noticeably different than what she shows in her other classes.  Surrounded by teachers who embody a stunning lack of empathy and curriculum that does not appeal to her, Melinda finds something different in her art class experience.  She likes the project assigned to her.  The project of having to construct something over the course of the year appeals to her.  She does not like the topic she was given- trees.  While she tries to change the topic, she is "stuck with it."  Eventually, she comes around to it, but the fact that she "speaks" to her teacher about wishing to change it is extremely significant.  

Melinda is in a point in her life where silence is becoming the norm.  Given the fact that she has not fully processed what happened to her that night, her descent into silence can be understood.  For her to speak about what she wishes to change is reflective of something new for her.  At the same time, it becomes clear that she likes Mr. Freeman, or at least, she finds him to be more approachable than her other teachers.  It would be in these points of reference where Melinda's attitude in her art class is fundamentally different than her other classes.

Melinda is the first-person narrator in the story, so we see things from her perspective only. She tells her story through what she's thinking, but says nothing about how she feels out loud. Her friends deserted her because she called the police after she was raped at the party. She really has no one to confide in, so the reader becomes involved with Melinda because we share her secret while no one else does. By speaking only to herself and the reader, Melinda's isolation from everyone is underscored. The author uses journal entries, school bulletins, and such to elicit a response from Melinda. She reacts inwardly to what she sees and hears. Her reaction to the mundane events of high school tells us what she's thinking and feeling.

Another way Melinda expresses her feelings is through her art project. This is the only class where Melinda can speak through her art, and her art teacher recognizes she is troubled. The author uses the seasons of the school year to represent what Melinda is going through also. She freezes up during the winter months, but as it gets nearer to spring, Melinda is beginning to thaw, indicating her need to tell what happened to her.

I think that Melinda values loyalty.  Part of what makes her become silent is that she cannot understand the level of disloyalty there is in the people around her.  The fact that the entire student body turns on her so quickly for calling the cops is one such example.  Melinda's friendships are also examples of how she values loyalty.  She is still loyal to Rachel, even though Rachel has moved on socially from Melinda.  Heather is waiting for the "next best thing," and Melinda notes this as a reflection of how much she values loyalty and how little she sees it in Heather.  In fact, Melinda's use of the predatory aspect of the high school setting reveals how little loyalty is evident and thus how much she values it.  Melinda values Ivy because of her loyalty to her and the role she plays in helping Melinda.  At the same time, this loyalty is evident in Mr. Freeman, representative in how Melinda only speaks to him at the end about what happened to her.  Melinda's valuing of loyalty is best seen when she recognizes that even though Rachel might not be loyal to her, her loyalty to the friendship they once shared is reason enough to compel her to tell Rachel about Andy.  In this act, one sees how much Melinda values loyalty.

In the novel Speak, author Laurie Halse Anderson portrays high school as a complex social environment that includes both nurturing and harmful elements. Melinda finds that some of her old friends are not supportive, and her attempt at a new friendship with Heather proves unfulfilling. As Melinda observes and listens, her newly silent vantage point shows her characteristics of both peers and adults that she had not previously observed. Two female classmates, Ivy and Nicole, provide support and advice of different kinds. Ivy praises her creative efforts, while Nicole comes to her rescue and helps her understand team solidarity. Melinda comes to consider her lab partner, David, as heroic for his “eloquent silence,” as he wordlessly standing up for his beliefs.

Throughout the novel, one main mode of expression that Melinda increasingly relies on is art. Her initial frustrations and lack of ideas yields to deeper involvement in the creative process; her increased confidence in her creative abilities parallels her overall growing sense of self-worth. Although much of her artistic journey of self-discovery must be accomplished alone, her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, plays a key, fatherlike role. His faith in the value of art and in his students’ abilities inspires her.

Melinda begins her school year as a rape victim who has been humiliated and shamed by her friends for calling the police after her rape, which results in the party that all the kids were at being broken up. With no one knowing that she was raped at the party, she is ostracized, unpopular, and shamed into silence. She retreats into the janitor's closet and tries her best to be invisible.

Her growth and recovery begins with her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, taking an interest in her and her art. Being befriended by her lab partner, David Petrakis, also aids in Melinda's recovery.

I would argue that a big part of Melinda's recovery comes from being forced out of her comfort zone by the realization that her rapist, Andy Evans, begins dating Rachel, who is Melinda's former best friend. Having been mute for most of the school year, Melinda needs to find her voice (albeit in the form of notes exchanged in the library) to warn Rachel about what Andy is really like. After initially reacting in anger to Melinda's accusation, Rachel soon comes around and winds up publicly dumping Andy at the prom.

By the time Andy gets Melinda alone in the janitor's closet and attempts to rape her a second time, she has found her voice and screams loudly enough that the lacrosse team comes to her rescue.