Consider A Tree In Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

There is always someone that is considered to be a catalyst of change in their lives and the lives of those that surround them. In the novel “The Bean Trees”, the main character named Taylor, who from a very young age, knows that she needs to make changes in her life if she is to not become like the other girls in her small Kentucky town. Taylor embodies a personality of progression and individuality. In the novel Taylor goes through different stages of transformation and learning toward personal maturity that can be divided into 4 major segments. Those segments being first her hometown life and when she decides to move away, second when she arrives to where she moved to, third her developments with the people she meets, and finally her final commitment she makes to

In this novel the character's in the story, and the bean trees help us realize that there are a lot of miracles in life, and how quickly the world around us can change. The Bean Trees teaches us about the miracles in life. In chapter three, there was a series of sentences that stated,“Sure enough, they were one hundred percent purple: stems, leaves, and pods. . . . ‘The Chinese lady next door gave them to me. . . .

In the book, Lab Girl, author Hope Jahren describes her life as a struggle to discover who she really is. Jahren has an inability to express her emotions and describe the events in her life with ease. Throughout the book, Jahren uses different parts of plants and trees to compare and describe her life trials and decisions she makes. Instead of telling us straight forward what problems occurred and how she overcame them; she used her knowledge of plants to mirror her life to that of a plants life to compensate for her inadequacies with emotion. She starts off at the base of the plant, using the roots and seedlings as an explanation for her life choice to become a scientist.

Annotated Bibliography Gibbons, Gail. (2012). The Moon Book. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

There's little to no challenge in chopping a tree down, but what kind of challenge would be faced when putting back together a tree that has already fallen? Clear concise instructions are required, and that's what W.S. Merwin (292) provided in his essay "Unchopping a Tree.” Merwin clearly suggests an insightful meaning with his absurdity in his instructions of actually unchopping a tree. Merwin’s thoughts are implying that after ecological destruction of sorts, the efforts to restore our environment is just as difficult as putting a tree back together. In his piece, Merwin focuses on persuading the reader to preserve trees through a well-articulated position employing an important message: the irreversible effects of deforestation and how it

She at first thinks the task of drawing a tree is easy, but she soon realizes it is harder than it seems. Melinda can easily picture a tree in her mind, but she can not draw it. This relates to Melinda before and after she was raped by Andy Evans. Before the rape, Melinda is represented by the tree when she says, “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”(78). Melinda was completely fine before the rape occurred, and she was happy with herself and her surroundings.

This kind of description shows the reader how impressive and majestic this tree is, as it puts a vivid picture in the reader’s mind as something that is not only unrivaled in terms of altitude, but it can also be seen from the sea, which highlights its stature as a wholly independent object. Old as it is, this pine is strong, and does not need any assistance from the ecosystem surrounding it. The importance of this giant tree, along with other details that make the story more interesting, is what dramatizes this young heroine’s adventure.

Kai Sebastian English 10H Mrs. Denchfield 8/27/15 10H Summer Assignment: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 1.“‘We could live like this forever,’ I said. ‘I think we’re going to,’ she said.” (Walls 18) This is near the beginning of the books between the two siblings of the narrator (Jeannette Walls) and her older sister (Lori Walls) as they are lying underneath the stars on a clear night in the desert. The reason for these exchange of words was the fact they were on one of their dad’s

Melinda, in a lot of ways, starts out like that it the book. She becomes a shell of herself from before the party happened and because no one else was there, she is lonely and doesn't have anybody to go to and to make matters even worse, she’s covered by the reputation that she has formed. In the book, Laurie Halse Anderson uses symbolism to convey exactly what Melinda can't say. In the beginning of the book, Melinda starts high school carrying her emotional wounds with her after something happens mysterious to her at a party during the summer.

Setting: The beginning of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith, takes place in Brooklyn, New York in a section called Williamsburg in 1912. Williamsburg bustles and is overcrowded with impoverished immigrants, like most of Francie’s family. Williamsburg is home to a wide diversity of immigrants including Jews, Irish-Catholics, Germans, Italians, Polish, etc. Betty Smith who serves as a narrator constantly describes the sights, sounds, and smells throughout the book, such as “baked stuffed fish, sour rye bread fresh from the oven, and something that smelled like honey boiling.” Francie Nolan is eleven years old when the book begins.

In Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue by Quiara Alegria Hudes, Ginny, mother to Elliot, suffers from PTSD, and maintains a garden as a means of possessing a sense of stability. In 4/Prelude, she recalls her purpose for bringing the garden to life, and the memories it brings back when she spends time there. Through elements of style such as diction, figurative language, and imagery, Hudes establishes Ginny’s garden as a symbol of healing. In this scene, Hudes establishes Ginny’s garden as a symbol of healing, as she utilizes diction to reference Ginny’s specific reasons for constructing the garden, and memories of Vietnam.

By using an excessive amount of comas, she is able to capture the rush. An example of this is when Sylvia takes her “daring step across into the old pine-tree” (35) and finds out the task at hand is harder than believed. The run on sentence describing the difference of the oak tree to the pine tree allows the reader to infer the danger present and allows Sylvia to be portrayed even more as a heroine. Jewett utilizes narrative pace is again when youthful Sylvia is almost to the summit, describing how she is becoming part of the tree by successfully defeating its obstacle like “all the hawks, and bats, and moths” (50) and the animals, who for centuries have been known to use this tree.

“Schoolteacher’s nephew represents a dismissal by whites of the dehumanizing qualities of slavery”. When Sethe is raped, schoolteacher observed how her body is exploited. The scars on Sethe’s back are so many that they resemble the trunk of a tree with its branches. Sethe bear scars on her back because she was whipped due to her try of escape. Amy Denver, a white girl that helped Sethe when she was running away from Sweet Home, calls the tree a chokecherry tree.

My favorite character in this book was the tree and the event that I like the most about the book was at the end because even after having nothing left the tree was still willing to let the boy sit on her. What I liked most about the tree was her selfishness because even though the boy took all she had, she was happy to be able to make him happy. The moral of the story that children might get from this book is that we should not forget our friends and should be grateful for what they give us. However, an adult would get that the main message of the story is about how children and the elderly appreciate the small things in life and do not need very much to be happy.

In the poem of “A Work of Artifice” by Marge Piercy, the author illustrates the relationship between a bonsai tree and its gardener. The bonsai tree signifies women and their nature while the gardener represents men. The narrative structure of poem relays the perspective of the speaker, how he perceives women as mere illiterate beings. Employing an oppressive diction and descriptive imagery, the speaker reinforces the idea that he regards himself superior to the tree, believing that the tree should fit into mold that would deem it acceptable in his eyes.