Water, Ice, and Melting Symbol in Speak

Images of water and ice are prevalent throughout Speak. This symbol is appropriate because Melinda is, in effect, frozen. She is cold to all those around her, from Heather to her teachers to her parents. She is also frozen in the sense that she has stopped moving; she refuses to do her homework, go to class, go out, or mature in any real way. Essentially, since her rape, she has had to freeze her mind in order to protect herself. The idea of melting into water, therefore, is an incredibly important one. As cold, snowy Syracuse, New York gradually melts into spring, Melinda, too, finds the frozen walls around her mind coming down. This is not a sign of weakness, but of strength, as she begins once again to mature and to let others in. This imagery reaches its climax when Melinda finishes her picture of a tree (which also needs water) and finds a “river in her eyes.” Her crying represents another step in the melting process, as she moves further away from her trauma and towards true adulthood.

Water, Ice, and Melting Quotes in Speak

The Speak quotes below all refer to the symbol of Water, Ice, and Melting. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

I hide in the bathroom until I know Heather’s bus has left. The salt in my tears feels good when it stings my lips. I wash my face in the sink until there is nothing left of it, no eyes, no nose, no mouth. A slick nothing.

Related Characters: Melinda Sordino (speaker), Heather

Related Symbols: Mirrors, Lips, Water, Ice, and Melting

Page Number and Citation: 45

Explanation and Analysis:

I almost tell them right then and there. Tears flood my eyes. They noticed I’ve been trying to draw. They noticed. I try to swallow the snowball in my throat. This isn’t going to be easy. I’m sure they suspect I was at the party. Maybe they even heard about me calling the cops. But I want to tell them everything as we sit there by our plastic Christmas tree while the Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer video plays.

Related Characters: Melinda Sordino (speaker), Melinda’s mother, Melinda’s father

Related Symbols: Water, Ice, and Melting

Page Number and Citation: 72

Explanation and Analysis:

Slush is frozen over. People say that winter lasts forever, but it’s because they obsess over the thermometer. North in the mountains, the maple syrup is trickling. Brave geese punch through the thin ice left on the lake. Underground, pale seeds roll over in their sleep. Starting to get restless. Starting to dream green.

Related Characters: Melinda Sordino (speaker)

Related Symbols: Trees, Seeds, Plants, and Forests, Birds, Water, Ice, and Melting, Warmth and Sunlight

Page Number and Citation: 133

Explanation and Analysis:

I crouch by the trunk, my fingers stroking the bark, seeking a Braille code, a clue, a message on how to come back to life after my long undersnow dormancy. I have survived. I am here. Confused, screwed up, but here. So, how can I find my way? Is there a chain saw of the soul, an ax I can take to my memories or fears? I dig my fingers into the dirt and squeeze. A small, clean part of me waits to warm and burst through the surface. Some quiet Melindagirl I haven’t seen in months. That is the seed I will care for.

Related Characters: Melinda Sordino (speaker)

Related Symbols: Trees, Seeds, Plants, and Forests, Water, Ice, and Melting, Warmth and Sunlight

Page Number and Citation: 188

Explanation and Analysis:

IT happened. There is no avoiding it, no forgetting. No running away, or flying, or burying, or hiding. Andy Evans raped me in August when I was drunk and too young to know what was happening. It wasn’t my fault. He hurt me. It wasn’t my fault. And I’m not going to let it kill me. I can grow.
I look at my homely sketch. It doesn’t need anything. Even through the river in my eyes I can see that. It isn’t perfect and that makes it just right.

Related Characters: Melinda Sordino (speaker), Andy Evans

Related Symbols: Trees, Seeds, Plants, and Forests, Birds, Water, Ice, and Melting, Warmth and Sunlight

Page Number and Citation: 198

Explanation and Analysis:

“You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?”
The tears dissolve the last block of ice in my throat. I feel the frozen stillness melt down through the inside of me, dripping shards of ice that vanish in a puddle of sunlight on the stained floor. Words float up.
Me: “Let me tell you about it.”

Related Characters: Melinda Sordino (speaker), Mr. Freeman (speaker)

Related Symbols: Water, Ice, and Melting, Warmth and Sunlight

Page Number and Citation: 198

Explanation and Analysis:

Water, Ice, and Melting Symbol Timeline in Speak

The timeline below shows where the symbol Water, Ice, and Melting appears in Speak. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...and artsy), Rachel refuses to even speak with her. Melinda reminds herself to act like ice in order not to feel anything. Despite her attempts, however, she imagines shaking Rachel by... (full context)

...one who called the cops at Kyle Rodgers’s party.” Melinda describes how a “block of ice” has suddenly frozen her section of the bleachers as everyone turns to look at her.... (full context)

...plans for her store, she forgets to defrost the bird, and then attempts to hurriedly unfreeze it by pouring hot water on it. Melinda notes that although her family has little... (full context)

...if her “house didn’t feel like Christmas.” She bundles up and heads out into the snow, where she is surrounded by trees, bushes, and ice. As she plays in the snow,... (full context)

...and she suddenly feels panicked, her “heart clanging like a firebell.” The spell of the snow is broken, and she complains as it melts on her back. She takes holly and... (full context)

...TV for her room, skates, and a sketch pad with charcoals because her parents have noticed her drawing. Touched by the fact that they’ve noticed, she begins to cry, and is... (full context)

...gets off track, and the class begins to debate animal rights. Melinda, meanwhile, watches the snow fall outside the window. (full context)

...Melinda attempts to ignore them, instead conjugating irregular Spanish verbs, daydreaming, and looking at the snow outside. She calls her parents Mount Dad and Mount Saint Mom, watches them erupt, and... (full context)

...utterly paralyzed. She feels as if the lights have dimmed and the cafeteria has become cold. He reaches down and twirls her ponytail, and Melinda runs to the bathroom to throw... (full context)

...but her mother refuses to drive her to school, telling her to walk through the snow instead. As she hikes through the streets, Melinda notes the beauty of the wintry town. (full context)

...(IT, as she calls him) in the parking lot. She freezes on top of an icy puddle and hopes that he won’t notice her. She compares herself to a rabbit that... (full context)

...like when she was “eleven years old and fast.” She imagines burning through the sidewalk, melting snow and ice all around her. She decides to cut school. (full context)

Reveling in her freedom, Melinda walks down main street, despite the icy weather. She feels as if her insides are freezing. Just as she’s about to head... (full context)

...his wall. Next to Melinda’s name is a question mark. Her tree, she reports, is “frozen.” She claims that a kindergartner could do better, and that she doesn’t even know how... (full context)

...is pessimistic, but comments that looking at books will be more useful than watching the snow outside. (full context)

...to her store, Effert’s, to shop. As Melinda waits, a blizzard begins, pelting her with snow and ice. Mr. Freeman pulls up and offers her a ride, even mentioning that he’d... (full context)

Eight inches of snow have fallen in Syracuse, but Melinda does not have a snow day. Hairwoman reminisces about... (full context)

As the class discusses snow’s symbolism in Hawthorne, Melinda mentally asserts that snow symbolizes “[c]old and silence.” She contemplates the... (full context)

...is winter and she is on her roof. Noticing that there is blood on the snow, she realizes that she’s bitten through her lip and will need stitches, causing her mother... (full context)

Rather than pay attention, Melinda sketches “a willow tree drooping into water” to tape on the inside of her closet; she considers moving in there “full-time.” She... (full context)

...wants her to tell Rachel. Still suffocating, she takes off her sweatshirt and wishes for cold. (full context)

...by a tree’s trunk and feeling its bark. She feels as if she has been “undersnow” for a long time, and wonders how she can ever be revived. Reminding herself that... (full context)

Melinda decides that her tree is missing something, and uses chalk and water to draw birds above it (although the bandage on her hand makes this difficult). As... (full context)

Although there is “a river” in Melinda’s eyes, she can see that her tree is perfect in its imperfection. Mr.... (full context)

Melinda imagines the tears “dissolv[ing] the last block of ice in my throat,” and feels herself melting. She imagines the ice melting into a puddle... (full context)

Speak

Laurie Halse Anderson

Water, Ice, and Melting Symbol Analysis

Water, Ice, and Melting Quotes in Speak

Water, Ice, and Melting Symbol Timeline in Speak