Victims of rape are 3 times more likely to suffer from depression, 6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 time more likely to abuse drugs, and 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide. So, you can only imagine how Melinda Sordino was feeling after getting raped at a party in the book Speak Laurie Halse Anderson. But, Melinda comes out newer and stronger than ever before. Her transformation is amazing, and there are many factors to it, but one of those factors includes her drawing, especially trees.
Melinda goes through many important changes, both physical and emotional during this book, and one of the things that helps her get there is her drawing. At the beginning of the book, Melinda is given an assignment in art class to focus on drawing a tree. At first, she thinks that it is simple. But, she struggles with drawing it. This relates to how she is struggling with depression at the time, and expressing herself with drawing. As the year progresses, her trees become stronger, and more detailed, as she herself heals. In the book, Melinda’s art teacher says on the first day of class, “‘This is where you can find your soul, if you dare. Where you can touch that part of you you've never dared look at before.’” I think that this shows how we could see at the beginning of the book the changes that Melinda was going to go through that connected to her drawing. She digs deeper and deeper into herself, and into her depression, but she comes up and she lives, and part of her healing is thanks to her drawing.
All in all, Melinda goes through an amazing transformation, one of the factors to her transformation is her drawing. One of the things that she draws, trees, is a symbol for her struggles, and her healing when dealing with depression. She has such a hard time, but she comes back, better, and stronger than ever.
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