Speak Essay

Merryweather High School kept changing the name of the school mascot and this caused the students and Melinda to question their identity.   Melinda explains this by saying, “The school board has come out against calling us the Devils. We are now the Merryweather Tigers”(41). They change the mascot because the school board thinks each name is offensive when used in cheers and therefore not appropriate. This has a negative effect on the entire high school. Melinda takes this further in that she feels unimportant and alone (lonely).
The changing of seasons mirrors Melinda’s mood and attitudes.   Every time the seasons change Melinda’s attitude changes. When Melinda starts school in the fall she is sad because of the abandonment from her old friends. Her old friends are mad at her because she called the police on her friends who were throwing a party because something bad happened to her there but no one knew about it since she wouldn’t talk about it.   As the school year goes on, her attitude improves mainly due to the connection she makes with her art teacher and art.   He asks her to draw a tree and at the beginning of the year, her tree drawings were dark with little detail.   gets a lot better. As the year went on her drawings changed for the better. Spring resulted in the most positive of changes for Melinda when she says, “I don’t want to hide in my closet anymore”(192).   At the end of the year her drawings looked beautiful with astonishing detail.
The janitor’s closet symbolizes a safe place for Melinda that is very significant to her. She explains this by saying “I head for my closet after school. I want to take the poster of Maya Angelo home, and I’d like to keep some of my tree pictures and turkey bone sculpture. The rest of this stuff can stay, as long as it doesn’t have my name on it. Who knows, some other kids may need a safe place to run to next year”(192).   She decides to take home the most important things and she doesn’t want to leave anything there...