A Spring Awakening: Not the Musical

For years and years, the onset of spring has symbolized the beginning of happy times, out of the freezing cold, and into the season where crops are grown and warmth begins to come back. Speak uses spring as a similar symbol. Melinda is getting better. This is very clear to readers of Speak, especially in comparison to her a few months ago. Laurie Halse Anderson symbolizes the beginning of her change by beginning the fourth marking period, a benchmark date that many students think of as the beginning of the end of the school year, and the first signs of spring. Spring is also a very positive season, and as Melinda gets better, it becomes spring. She has gone through school so far getting more and more hurt, and now is her chance to salvage some sanity and live through this awful time. With spring, for Melinda, comes hope and the beginning of a new chance.

To a reader, Melinda is still depressed. In comparison to the self-hurting, suicidal character from a mere 50 pages ago, however, she is a completely different person. She has human interactions with multiple people, including her mother and her old friend Ivy. She even has enough courage to send a letter of warning to her ex-best friend, now enemy Rachelle/Rachel. Melinda is returning to the kind of caring, social person she was before she was raped, and this happens at the same time spring begins.

Not only is spring a symbol of hope, it also brings about change. Melinda must change to become normal again, and it is clear that she starts this. She has begun to build a base of a few key friends who will help her to rapidly gain trust in people once again. Prominent in this group are Ivy, David Petrarkis, and Mr. Freeman. These three represent the most positive interactions Melinda has, and they are very responsible and kind people. They go to great lengths to help Melinda, and even though she does not mean to, she responds to this quite well. In the latest twenty page installment we read, she makes two jokes, one to herself, and one out loud to David. This is a metamorphosis of great proportions.

In the weeks that separate the end of winter from the festive beginning of spring, Melinda morphs from a depressed, introverted, terrified human being to a typical person recovering from a seriously traumatic experience in their lives. This transformation is elevating for all readers, but the individuals who can put themselves into Melinda's shoes can feel a very powerful burden being lifted from their shoulders. For Melinda, the beginning of spring marks the beginning of a miraculous and fantastic recovery from a very dark and sinister time in her life.