Speak

"I wish Mr. Freeman would put a tree in his masterpiece.  I can't figure out how to make mine look real. I have already ruined six linoleum blocks. I can see it in my head: a strong old oak tree with a wide scarred trunk and thousands of leaves reaching to the sun. There's a tree in front of my house just like it. I can feel the wind blow and hear the mocking bird whistling on the way back to her nest.  But when I try to carve it, it looks like a dead tree, toothpicks, a child's drawing. I can't bring it to life. I'd love to give it up. Quit.  But I can't think of anything else to do, so I keep chipping away at it."

-page 78, Speak

This is intense.  This scene is about Melinda drawing a tree, right? It's about trying to draw this tree, but wanting to give up, but nothing the less, she keeps trying. When I read this, I don't think this is about a tree.  I think this is about her life. I think she is giving us a peek inside, and sharing her feelings with us. Telling us that she is just 'chipping away' at her life.  In earlier scenes, we see that at her house she is a completely different person.  She laughs, and smiles, and follows the rules.  But the second that she leaves, she becomes her again. This scene means a lot more than a tree, it means her life.