Speak Essay

In the book Speak, one of the most important symbols is the closet that Melinda, the protagonist, spends a lot of her time in. The closet represents Melinda's silence and fear of communication with others, which is why she shuts herself away. However, when Melinda starts to overcome her silence, she clears out the closet and stops hiding. The closet is Melinda's silence and trauma, and it is overcome by her bravery.

When Melinda first starts using the closet as an escape, she is in a very bad place. As a result of the trauma of being raped she has trouble speaking or interacting with other people. She attempts to use it as a place she can go to avoid interaction with others-she tries to go there to escape going to a pep rally, for example. She also becomes very comfortable in the closet-she decorates it and becomes very familiar with it. This shows how she had become used to shutting herself away. She is comfortable with her lack of interaction with others, and she finds it a relief to be alone.

However, things start to change for Melinda. Towards the end of the year, she starts to talk a little more-to her art teacher and lab partner mostly. As she does this, she becomes more comfortable with communication and she starts to spend less and less time in her closet. At the end of the year, she starts to clean it out "in case another kid needs it next year". This shows that she found it to be a helpful escape, and she was glad to have it and she hopes to pass it on to someone else. It also shows that she is done hiding and is ready to speak again. Melinda also confronts her past in there. At the end, Andy catches her in the closet. He attempts to attack her, but she fights back, something she has been unable to do throughout the book. She tells him "I said no" which proves that her strength has grown since the beginning of the year.

The closet shows Melinda's journey throughout the book. At first, she is silent and shuts herself away from the world but when she starts to communicate with people, she does not need to hide anymore. Melinda leaves behind the closet when she leaves behind the part of her life that caused her so much difficulty.